Matt BlazeMar 21, 2023

You know what's great about Mastodon? Putting effort into writing a long thread and waking up to the Self-Appointed-Mastodon-Police telling you that long threads are an "inappropriate" way to use Mastodon.

And by "great", I mean, really annoying.

No.

There are plenty of ways to uses Mastodon. Not everyone needs to use it the same way, and no one is required to follow your imagined rules.

Don't like what I post? Unfollow and block are free.

Show threadMatt BlazeMar 21, 2023

I think part of what I’m seeing is a small but very vocal minority of users who object to any use of Mastodon that mirrors the way people use(d) Twitter. It’s kind of a cargo-cult logic: “some aspects of Twitter are toxic, therefore, anything that reminds me of Twitter will bring toxicity.”

I try not to be toxic. But there are some ways I used Twitter that I found useful, that suit me, and that I now use this for. I think that’s also true for many others here, too.

Show threadMatt BlazeMar 21, 2023
FWIW, when I do longer threads, it’s generally me thinking out loud about something I find interesting and may (or may not) write more about (either as a paper or a blog post) in the future. Perhaps that’s too self-indulgent for some. But I enjoy reading long threads from others, especially when it shows me how other people think about interesting things.
Show threadNorman WilsonMar 21, 2023
@mattblaze Sometimes I find your long threads interesting, and I read them through. Sometimes I don't, and skip over them. I don't get why this is a big deal, except that some Mastodon clients aren't good at gathering all the pieces into one place. But that's the programmer's fault, not the writers. Besides, sometimes you post several independent toots and I'm not interested so I skip them one by one, so that's not hard either.
Show threadNorman Wilson
@mattblaze People who complain because you (or I, or anyone) post things they don't want to read are by definition posting things nobody but a fellow complainer wants to read. I wish they'd get together and make a complaints instance and keep it all there.
Mar 21, 2023 at 9:12pmWeb