Matt Huhn
Drew HarwellJust realized it's now been two months since I was locked out of Twitter for factual reporting. I could delete the (non-rule-breaking) tweet and go back but, to be honest, I just don't feel any real desire to. It's a social network built for one, and not a place where you can trust that real reporting won't be punished on a whim. Every tweet supports a place that's hostile to what we do. Why enable that?
And not to be a weird brown-noser but if you care about technology news there is a giant, very smart and engaged group of people here on Mastodon talking about those things, which (besides shameless self-promotion) was mostly all I ever used Twitter for. I'm finding the conversations here super interesting and not so prone to pointless turf wars, which undermines one of the few reasons for going back.
Dubi is here 
@drewharwell Can you suggest some good writers to follow?
Ryan Pollard@Dubikan @drewharwell I was just about to ask. Thank you.
Matt@Dubikan @drewharwell yes, please.
@Dubikan @drewharwell you can also look at Drew’s account for Posts & Replies to see people he has boosted. It’s a good starting list.
Justin Ling🆒️@drewharwell I did delete my offending tweet (because it was a link to a Musk jet tracker that doesn't work anymore anyway) but my desire to be on the platform has almost disappeared since then. I'm frankly kind of amazed that so many fellow journalists are still using it like nothing has changed.
Roy Brander🍁Canadaland is doing a Q&A show, so I wrote in to ask Jesse why he "found" Mastodon to be so hard to join he gave up...when it took me five minutes.
They wrote and asked me to record it and mail the file, so I think that Jesse Brown, at least, will have to answer whether he "only does harsh podcast series on monopolies that didn't make him famous".
mʕ•ﻌ•ʔm bitPickup@bitpickup @drewharwell nah. The first thing I did when I got my account back was post a link to ADSB-Exchange and publish this: https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-elonjet-flight-tracker-transparency/
Jennifer Kayla | Theogrin 🦊What I'd like to see in a very general way is a Fediverse server for each of the mainstream publications, with accounts for each individual author and sub-feeds which collate their articles. WaPo, you can do that! You can have [email protected]! It's really easy! CNN can too! NYT...
NYT can stay on Twitter, please.
But that aside, it sounds like a really neat way to offer feeds.
@drewharwell
There are some added benefits in the ways that can work: you can personally block an entire server. So yes. You can block FOX and all its contributors with one click.
This, for obvious reasons, appeals to me.
Roadskater, Ph.D.@drewharwell Keep on keeping on. But also keep telling this to your fellow journalists, and also your editors who are afraid of losing pageviews.
Accretor@drewharwell I think we should keep this one. He gets it.
😜
KeepYourWits@drewharwell Agreed; same blue birdy history with me, same abstain decision.
Steven Hilton@[email protected] your peers and coworkers. Have Wapo set up its own instance for its journalists.
Kent Brewster@drewharwell every newsroom should set up its own instance. So much safer than leaving it in someone else's hands!
Andres Jalinton@kentbrew @drewharwell
There is no need to create an instance, there is a lot of modules / plugins to make almost any platform into the
There is no need to create an instance, there is a lot of modules / plugins to make almost any platform into the
happyborg@drewharwell After well over a year waiting for a response I deleted the single disputed tweet, but only so I could run movetodon on the account 🤷♂️
Go Sports & Music!@drewharwell That’s an incredible question, people see a site that goes against their ethics and still push that bird button, it doesn’t make sense to me. I deleted my posts and likes in the run up to the musk purchase, then gave him 2 weeks. He sucked, I deleted the app. Easy
@drewharwell Ironically the last person I followed on Twitter, wrote an very interesting article about how Musk is leading a corporate charge to downsize, reduce wage, increase in-person work hours. The article stated that companies are watching to see if he’s successful so they can implement similar policies. I thought, “this guy can’t win, we all need to be off this site”, there was and has been a lot more since, but it was a huge red flag. I wish I remembered the author.
Martha Howell@MarioERoc @drewharwell Same here. Before the sale I used to see a few awful posts, but at a level where they felt like outliers. After the purchase it went downhill quickly. About 2 wks in I saw an evil post about Anne Frank that disturbed me for days, and that was enough. It felt immoral to read that, or to participate in a business model that allows it to be published.
@MHowell @drewharwell Reminds me of when Trump was elected, I personally knew a lot of Latin Americans that were harassed that next days, and through much of his time in office. People would say, “we don’t have to bite our tongue’s anymore”. Even my grandma caught a few “go back you your own country’s”, she’s been here since 1959. Crazies!
@MarioERoc @drewharwell
It was like every hateful person in this country was issued a license to be an a$$hole. Even the kids. It makes society so ugly. So sorry for your grandma!
It was like every hateful person in this country was issued a license to be an a$$hole. Even the kids. It makes society so ugly. So sorry for your grandma!
Ray@drewharwell if Elon Musk really wants freedom of speech, he shall donate the $44Bn to mastrodon.
⚡️ axeshun ⚡️ 
@drewharwell I wish everyone would follow your lead. 🙏
karinchu@drewharwell it’s also so so so clunky now. Literally Musk has done everything possible to make it user unfriendly.
Ireland Inside and Out@drewharwell And yet every major media organization is still on Twitt acting as if it's a good place.
Old Man Mike@Irelandinsideandout because “there’s no such thing as liberal media”
william.maggosthere's only one reason. network effect. I wish people (but especially journalists) would realize they have the power in this relationship. Everybody there could move here together one day. Or even just try it for a week. If that happened with ample preparation, people wouldn't go back.
Maura@drewharwell thank you for not caving to him. Please encourage your fellow journalists to do the same.
jergyyou are setting the example of how journalists should respond to what is happening over on twitter
the sooner everyone leaves twitter behind, the more empowered all journalists will be when they realize that they won't be censored in the fediverse
Jodi
JL Roberson@drewharwell There is no reason. It's #ElonMusk's blog with the biggest comments section in the world, and that's all now.
I had been on Twitter since 2009 and I nuked my account in November because Elon flagged me for being mean to Trump. I honestly haven't missed it because Musk killed the Twitter I liked. As an organism it no longer exists.
The thing is, if you're not on(or worked for) #Twitter, Musk has no power over one at all.
I had been on Twitter since 2009 and I nuked my account in November because Elon flagged me for being mean to Trump. I honestly haven't missed it because Musk killed the Twitter I liked. As an organism it no longer exists.
The thing is, if you're not on(or worked for) #Twitter, Musk has no power over one at all.
@jlroberson he’s like Freddy Krueger in that respect, turn your back on him and take away his power.
@oldmanmike That's why when I hear people say Musk is a threat to free speech: no, that's Elon's CLUB. If you go to a club, and then the owner starts letting in Nazis all the time, it's a Nazi club and ultimately belongs to him. Thing is, he neither owns all clubs nor the idea of one.
Elon Musk only controls your speech if you LET HIM. Don't walk into his lair.
Elon Musk only controls your speech if you LET HIM. Don't walk into his lair.
@jlroberson one hundred percent my man
@jlroberson it’s like people joining the Nazi party and being surprised at all the Nazis.
AaronHuertas@drewharwell I'm honestly surprised at how weak the response from media outlets has been. There are a lot of freelancers who need Twitter to put food on the table (for now) but editors and reporters at established outlets actually have some leverage to stop using the platform owned by the Guy Who Explicitly Hates Journalists.
waffles 
@aaronhuertas @drewharwell what should the response be from people trapped on platform with their audience?
@CwalkPinoy @drewharwell Personally, I think they're stuck for now, but a lot of freelancers have been investing more time in other platforms e.g. Discord, Patreon, here, etc. and they'd benefit from institutional media moving on to greener pastures, too. (Post's micro payment model is interesting, but I think the user experience is still lagging.)
@aaronhuertas @drewharwell yeah that's really all I could think of doing, expanding to other social media platforms.
you mentioned media employed journalists should have a bit more leverage. They have even less reason to leave because Twitter is just part of their workflow.
you mentioned media employed journalists should have a bit more leverage. They have even less reason to leave because Twitter is just part of their workflow.
@CwalkPinoy @drewharwell I've been hoping their unions and management would have a more coherent response given Musk's explicit hatred of journalists and media outlets that report on him. If they collectively moved here, a lot of policymakers (and comms people like me) would follow.
Maria BustillosMuch agreed, and I appreciate your principled leadership.
If Mastodon had opt-in search for posts by URLs, plus full-text search (either opt-in or anonymized in some way), I believe most journalists would come here immediately.
Domenick@drewharwell Not to mention posting over there creates engagement which is monetized and used to generate hate towards marginalized communities.
Michael Gartenberg@drewharwell there's a certain pride one should have by being kicked of Twitter by Musk. One can tell a lot about a person by who thinks them an enemy. I was fairly prolific and sometimes go look at the old "neighborhood" and while I miss some friends who still live there, I prefer my new neighbors here
Adam Dalliance@drewharwell Not sure I really understand that. I mean.
Isn't it already deleted?
In what sense are you deleting it if you click the button to re-publish everything else?
Twitter is pointless now though, I completely understand the desire not to go back.
Martin the Arrogant Bastard@drewharwell "It's a social network built for one"
Hands down, the most accurate description of Twitter.
Hands down, the most accurate description of Twitter.
TC Won't Give In To Lies@drewharwell
So why give Musk any legitimacy by keeping the account? Deactivate.
So why give Musk any legitimacy by keeping the account? Deactivate.
Finnley Dolfin@drewharwell I was locked out of Twitter for posting something others has posted. I didn’t even get the option to delete the tweet until after 100 days.
Terrible Luddite@drewharwell Someone needs to publish a high-profile piece that spells out precisely what they are enabling, how contrary it is to journalistic standards and integrity, and how weak and uncommitted it makes them look (especially orgs). An intervention of sorts. With any distance and perspective it’s going to be nearly impossible to defend, but if they’re going to continue to use Twitter, they should be pressed to justify it.
@drewharwell I couldn’t continue to support a company whose owner exhibited anti-Semitic actions. I closed my account. I urge others to do the same.
Jack Yan (甄爵恩)@drewharwell Iʼm really hoping theyʼll lose their s. 230 protection now, since itʼs all about Elmu. Clearly he only allows himself, his sycophants, and those who share his worldview, to be on OnlyKlans.
rednikki@drewharwell The same thing happened to me, and I feel the same way you do.
Jim Parsons"There are four lights..."
(2:00 min)
#Twitter
#Media
#Journalism
#Democracy
#BigTech
#Elmo
#TechnoFascism
Jeffrey Robinsonhttps://mastodon.social/@drewharwell/109875659229439977
Drew, you are absolutely, 100% right! Good on you to set the example.
meowomonI got reinstated recently just so I could deactivate my account.
Shannon@drewharwell Don't go back. You're a trusted news source here. We want you here. We appreciate you here. Musk's twitter is just a mess now. I mean, there are vile accounts that pay the $8/month that don't get locked or suspended. They can be posting revenge porn and Twitter will now keep them there. Real news shouldn't want to be a part of that. You're doing the right thing.
OGJester has moved@drewharwell why go back on board a sinking ship? Elon is taking a wrecking ball to that place; all the talent has left. There’s no future there.
JaneGray@drewharwell
Exactly. Thank you for your integrity. Thank you for refusing to enable a dangerous man.
Exactly. Thank you for your integrity. Thank you for refusing to enable a dangerous man.