Brian Urlacher
Dan GoodinA reminder to all the hangers on still using the wretched bird site: Twitter was never a public square. It was the private property of a for-profit business that was beholden to no one other than its shareholders. Now it has been taken over by a sociopath. Get over it. Move on!
I wonder if people saying that it's too inconvenient for them to move off of Twitter would have continued to eat at lunch counters in the 1960s that refused service to black people. "Yeah, Woolworth's is reprehensible, but that's where all my friends eat. And besides, they have the best blueberry pie in town."
Brett@dangoodin @SQLAllFather The answer is yes. Yes they would have.
@bflipp @SQLAllFather That makes me very 😞
@dangoodin @SQLAllFather There’s a lot of people that just aren’t concerned about what Elon’s doing and has done to Twitter as long as it still works for them. I’d say that’s probably the vast majority of Twitter users honestly. If it doesn’t affect them personally on a day to day basis they will not change their habits. When the site becomes unstable or unusable enough for large media orgs and especially sports reporters to leave then we’ll really be in the death spiral but not until then.
LillyLyle/Count Melancholia@bflipp @dangoodin @SQLAllFather There is always the risk that when the Arabs and Theil who are currently bankrolling the site get fed up with it just burning money and pull out, that it will just shut down, perhaps with no/little warning.
@LillyHerself @dangoodin @SQLAllFather I agree. I think this is the most likely scenario, that it just disappears without warning for users and employees both.
Dak (D. A. Keldsen)@dangoodin @bflipp @LillyHerself @SQLAllFather hard to say what they would consider unacceptable losses. The really rich parts of the elite are willing to throw out nearly inconceivable amounts of money for a “win.”
@d_a_keldsen @dangoodin @bflipp @SQLAllFather There was a lot of Arab money sloshing around silicon valley in the late 90s, and when they got tired of so many companies not turning a profit they turned off the tap - and that's when the bubble burst.
It was very fast.
It was very fast.
@LillyHerself @d_a_keldsen @dangoodin @SQLAllFather I think the user data is really all they wanted. They've probably wanted Twitter to die since 2011 when it was the chief driver of political organization and unrest in their countries. Now they have the data to go after dissidents and the death of the platform is just a bonus. I honestly believe Elon might just be getting worked by them. That data's also in a Palantir database now too.
@d_a_keldsen @LillyHerself @dangoodin @SQLAllFather I don't think these people put a price on power.
@dangoodin @SQLAllFather @LillyHerself @bflipp also a lot of Hollywood money hoping to bypass cable networks. (Speaking from personal experience, I worked at a company acquired by BroadVision.)
Travis@bflipp @dangoodin @SQLAllFather I've heard “I'm just there for sports" from a lot of people in response to anything related to Elon or the direction of Twitter.
Viss@bflipp @dangoodin @SQLAllFather similar sentiment to companies who do little to no security - they won't care until there's some kind of production outage - theeeeeeeen its a big deal. because they are forced to confront the reality
Ian
Defiance!@dangoodin The argument I hear most often is that since the audience there is so large and international, it's still the best place for social movements to gain traction. This is really hard to quantify, and typically ignores the other side of the coin; that social networks also have a negative impact (e.g. disinformation, targeted harassment, etc.). So we're left debating something we can't really measure. And if everyone just moved here, the network effect could do just as well 🤷♂️
@Defiance I'd probably be OK with people using Twitter only to raise awareness about social movements. People tweeting about sports and their cats just seems completely wrong.
@dangoodin Agreed. And that's surely the vast majority of posts.
Joe Słowik@dangoodin This is the analogy I've been looking for - thank you.
El Jefe "
" 
@dangoodin they kept eating there all the way up to the 80's.
Tindra@dangoodin @jfslowik I mean… the anti-gay chicken fast food place still has its loyal fans.
@TindrasGrove @dangoodin Right? I was thinking about this today in the context of climate change and arrived at the conclusion that humanity is not just fucked, but proper fucked.
@jfslowik @dangoodin I get the temptation to go down the “my individual choices don’t really matter” route (especially with climate change where the impact of big corps matters way more than the individual choices of everyone I know combined)
BUT there is also the fact that I have to live with myself. And, yeah, sometimes all the choices suck, and there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism, but I can at least manage to avoid the business that explicitly wants lots of my friends to die.
It may not be much in the big picture, but at least I manage to avoid being willfully evil. Which seems like a really low bar. And yet.
@TindrasGrove @dangoodin I maintain my 
pressence for three reasons:
1. To check DM's
2. To post links to long-form items I might write
3. To remind folks that they should be migrating off of the platform
#3 always gets the least interaction, or things like "well you can leave." Oh well.
NeonBunny@dangoodin More like they are the ones who’s car spew exhaust as they spend 30 minutes blocking traffic in the Chick-Fil-A drive through line.
Jack_D@dangoodin Yeah well I believe that this is a false equivalence. Most folks don’t care enough to move and it’s comfy to stay. No comparison with eating where discrimination takes place. WTF made you come up with that one?
@Jack_D I'd give what I think is a pretty good reply, but I'm pretty sure you're just a troll so . . . .
Locksmith@dangoodin Before, there was at least the intent of integrity and service through the profit. Now, there is only the intent of Elmo.
@locksmithprime Wait, how was there intent of integrity and service? Twitter's intent has always been profit, no matter what the means. Maybe at times integrity and service were the means Twitter management chose, but there are plenty of other ways to derive profit.
@dangoodin An intent, not necessarily executed. They did hire people to deal with safety, trust, dissemination of false information, etc. Whether those people actually had any power...
🌲🧿 "Max"t💽d🏵️n 🔎🍄@locksmithprime @dangoodin Not really...Jack Dorsey was a giant asshole billionaire as well...& he made HORRIBLE decisions regularly (his latest one...choosing Elon Musk to "take over" & saying he is the "right person" to do so).
@MaxPow3r11 @dangoodin Whatever good he did, he erased with that take on Elmo.
@locksmithprime @MaxPow3r11 Jack had no choice but to accept Elmo's bid. By law, Jack had to do whatever brings the highest shareholder value. That's why Twitter never was a public square and why it was a mistake for people to think otherwise.
@dangoodin @MaxPow3r11 And then he had to ruin the rest of his reputation by licking elmo's software-locked li-ion batteries.
Matt Waters@dangoodin @locksmithprime @MaxPow3r11 Jack encouraged Musk to buy Twitter well before the firm offer with commitment letters.
The board had no great wiggle room to reject afterwards. But yeah, Jack didn't have to solicit the bid beforehand. Jack himself doesn't even benefit personally from the bid since he's a continuing shareholder. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/30/elon-musk-texts-twitter/
dsic@locksmithprime @dangoodin there's not even an intent of profit any more it seems looking at how he drove away advertiser's.
@dsic @dangoodin I meant, an intent before Elmo. Elmo only cared and only cares about Elmo. Twitter is the Elmo version of Truth Social.
MaybeMyMonkeys@locksmithprime @dangoodin only in so far as the bird used it to brand itself that way. It is under new management and rebranded.
JDW@dangoodin if I could see people I follow in some sensible way on Mastodon I might leave the boid. But this is a hodgepodge.
Stephen@JDW @dangoodin you can’t see people you follow?
@cliffclavin @dangoodin not in any rational way. Lots of boosts by a few and scrolling for page after page gets old fast.
@dangoodin @JDW oh you mean you’d like a algo/curated feed?
@cliffclavin @dangoodin basically yes. I am not a single issue person so my feed isn't all lawyers, all writers, etc.
@dangoodin @JDW gotcha, I think this will potentially progress in a creative way. You definitely need to be more active in feed curation here.
@cliffclavin @dangoodin no idea how to do that I can't even find the #575 prompt lol
@JDW @cliffclavin I don't understand. What's preventing you from seeing the people you follow? It's really easy.
@dangoodin @cliffclavin you misunderstood I can't see what they post in any easy way. I have to scroll through dozens of random retoots or boosts to see an original post by someone I follow.
@JDW @cliffclavin I still don't understand. There are multiple ways you can see what I (or any other Mastodon user) post. For instance:
1) Click on the profile name (e.g. Dan Goodin), then click on posts and replies. Then scroll down. You'll see every post I've made.
2) Click on a post you're interested in (e.g. one of your responses). The post will reappear in the adjacent window to the right. Then scroll up. You'll see the entire thread.
I don't think Mastodon is as hard to use or as lacking in features as many people think.
The real issue, though, is: Twitter is a platform that's intent on damaging society and democracy. Continued use props up that platform and only strengthens its toxic effects. Critics need to think of the harms that come from hanging on.
@cliffclavin @dangoodin only way is to go to my profile, see list I follow and click on them one by one. That gets old fast.
PlineyTheNewer 🇺🇦🌻@JDW @dangoodin What app are you using? Are you iOS or Android? The app is EVERYTHING. I’ve recently switched to Ice Cubes for iOS, and it’s made a huge difference.
@PlineyTheNewer @JDW I haven’t used ice cubes, but I think I’ll download it and check it out. I am currently using Ivory. It’s fee-based, but is very robust, and it’s still in beta. If you can afford the fee, I highly recommend it.
Yours Truly@dangoodin it was always weird seeing people calling birdsite the "public square". it's no more a "public square" than a Starbucks inside a mall
@somarasu @dangoodin and now its full of gaslighters, abusers, and .. all the stuff you see in the news, sadly.
@Viss @dangoodin i truly never used it before i joined the fediverse but from what i glean, they've always had that problem it's just more prevalent
@somarasu @dangoodin for a long while they did a pretty good job of clamping down on extremist behavior. trust and safety had their jobs cut out for them.
but after musk took over, trust and saftey is .. gone
@dangoodin in a capitalist world we owe the bird nothing and it has no right to exist.
@dangoodin Are you under the impression that most social media users are trying to accomplish some universal good?
This is mostly entertainment and a alternate way to get some interesting info.
Outrage at people using twitter will in no way encourage people to use Mastadon.
@InfamousUnkown I'm voicing no more outrage expressing my opinion than you are in voicing yours.😀
@dangoodin There are more than a few active communities on the bird site that remain effective and much would be lost if not completely migrated together. Most are regional and single subject.
Dan Goodin (@[email protected])
I wonder if people saying that it's too inconvenient for them to move off of Twitter would have continued to eat at lunch counters in the 1960s that refused service to black people. "Yeah, Woolworth's is reprehensible, but that's where all my friends eat. And besides, they have the best blueberry pie in town."