Dan GillmorApr 10, 2023

When you refer to Musk's site, you should call it "Saudi-funded Twitter" just for the sake of consistency. Bonus: You'd be 4x more accurate than his claim that NPR, which gets about 1% of its money from taxpayers (well, their grandchildren), is "government funded".

(Corrected to fix Saudi ratio; Qatar also owns a chunk of Twitter, so Middle Eastern oil sellers hold about 5% of the shares together.)

Show threadDan GillmorApr 10, 2023
Meanwhile, NPR continues to show its fundamental cowardice by remaining on Saudi-funded Twitter despite Musk's visible contempt for it, and for all journalism other than right-wing mockery of the press.
Show threadbmazApr 10, 2023
@dangillmor Maybe because Mastodon is such unusable steaming horse manure that NPR needs an actually usable platform.
Show threadDan GillmorApr 10, 2023

@bmaz Surprised to hear you say that when, from my experience, that's not correct.

I have (had) 3x the followers there and 10x the engagement -- real, valuable engagement -- here.

Show threadbmazApr 10, 2023
@dangillmor I have no compunction whatsoever with what I said. The user interface here is discombobulated garbage. And a fair amount of that seems driven by holier than thou pious overlords that have decreed that it be so. No quote responses! No search function, use hashtags! Etc. These people are as big of pricks as Musk Maybe there will be a better alternative to Twitter in the future, but Mastodon sure is not it.
Show threadDan GillmorApr 10, 2023

@bmaz There are or will be client software that does what you want -- and there's a fair amount of pressure building on the "overlords" to accommodate more functionality.

To compare these people to Musk is way, way, way over the top.

Show threadCathy GellisApr 10, 2023

@dangillmor @bmaz I think the original decision not to have quote tweets was an arrogant one but it also sounds like one that may soon be reversed.

The rest is just the growing pains of a system suddenly handling a lot of growth, plus the time it takes to iterate new features. Not arrogance.

I also disagree that it's too underdeveloped to be used. The core functionality is there and probably more robust than Twitter now is. Plus with a lot more potential than a proprietary platform would have.

Show threadbmazApr 11, 2023
@cathygellis @dangillmor Mastodon is absolute garbage. And if it is still "growing" when exactly will it grow up? The reverence with which this shit site is given is ludicrous.
Show threadCathy GellisApr 11, 2023

@bmaz @dangillmor It isn't a shit "site"'; it is a community of interested people helping others communicate with each other. THAT'S what gets the reverence.

And that's why it sounds absolutely shocking to Dan and me to hear such abuse heaped upon it. It's EXACTLY what we need more of in this world, not less. And already pretty amazing, especially as a community effort but even objectively.

Show threadbmazApr 11, 2023
@cathygellis @dangillmor Mastodon has been around seven years and is still complete shit. And all the proselytizing in the world will not fix that. Not sure why me being honest is all that shocking to people that have known me forever.
Show threadCathy Gellis

@bmaz @dangillmor We're getting a ton of value from the labor and subsidization provided by a whole bunch of strangers. And not paying a CENT for it.

Who the fuck are we to gripe that it isn't more perfect yet? It is STILL incredibly valuable, and, yes, increasingly competitive with if not even more valuable than Musk's site, which he keeps steadily ruining.

Apr 11, 2023 at 8:22pmWeb
Show threadbmazApr 12, 2023
@cathygellis @dangillmor I am not getting much of value from the holier than thou proselytizers of Mastodon. And I never paid one cent to Jack, much less Musk. Who the fuck am I to gripe? Same as always, just a person.