I'm about to make saying "build a community not an audience" a blockable offense. Some people need an audience to keep a roof over their head and food on the table, and it's the only option for many marginalized people who aren't able to be gainfully employed in society due to bigotry or lack of support. What do you want them to do, just starve because a fascist burned down their only means of generating income?

And why the hell are you letting brands own the word "audience" anyway, and pretending it's some dirty thing now? The arts have used that word respectfully for centuries, long before brands came around

I'm sorry I keep posting about this but as a working slash often starving artist the mastodon interaction purity police is really starting to get to me

Especially stop this if you are a cis straight white dude who works in tech and as a democratic party operative who's never had to worry about food on the table your entire goddamn life

EDIT: IMPORTANT NOTE: if you're a butthurt reply guy please note i am describing the dude I am subtweeting directly, I am describing a *specific person*

Just. Fucking stop. Let people engage with the fediverse however they want *or need* to. Jesus
Like, my god. A whole class of creative people are biting their nails fearing for their literal lives because a fascist just burned down the only means of generating income they have and in some cases the only means of generating income that /society will afford them/ and they're coming here exhausted and terrified and instead of warmly welcoming them in you're going tut tut and telling them they're doing survival wrong. Just. FUCK
@eniko there is a bit of a "oh but this is our commune" or the good ole "OSS should never be used for profit" vibe isn't there
@candyleader no doubt by a bunch of white dudes who have a day job with a nice juicy paycheck

@eniko @candyleader The people telling artists to "quit spamming" are the same ones telling #BlackMastodon they can "just block anyone you don't like".

Meanwhile I'm over here having to dm an artist I really liked because she didn't have a store anywhere I could find.

Hit me with those links, peeps! I can buy scented candles from local craftspeople any time, I want something different from artists in my timeline!

@davidr @eniko @candyleader - yes, and the irony being that they won't 'just block' the way they tell others to.

@aby @davidr @eniko @candyleader Early on here I saw what looked like an interesting server & started following. Realized pretty quickly that they were REALLY AGGRESSIVE about defederation - & about ADVOCATING FOR WIDESPREAD DEFEDERATION - of WHOLE INSTANCES that didn't meet their local community standards.

& it was stuff like this! Like artists, writers, etc trying to put their art out there.

Basically saying: "The Fediverse is not a blog & you shouldn't try to make it one."

@FeralRobots @aby @davidr @eniko @candyleader

"The Fediverse is not a blog & you shouldn't try to make it one."

WordPress is part of the fediverse. WordPress is blogging software. This is a paradox.

@iramjohn @aby @davidr @eniko @candyleader
To expand what I said on followup that was arguably a non-charitable interpretation of the message they were sending.

That said, the folks I'm talking about did generally say 'fediverse' when they really seemed to mean 'Mastodon ecosystem.'