PiTauJun 17, 2023

The recent #reddit drama shows perfectly how platforms exploit their users. #redditblackout failed, the company stated that they won't budge. In answer interested redditors claim to continue protest indefinitely or moving to a #fediverse alternatives.

It is a word by word retelling of Twitter drama. Users, the powerhouse of the platform protest, but lack the power and devices to do effectively. So they are moving to mastodon. A big loose for Twitter? For a month or two yea.

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Show threadPiTau

In the long run however, users started coming back or abandoning their mastodon mirrors. Why? Has Twitter changed its bad ways? Of cause not. They simply waited out. Most Twitter users are so intertwined with the platform, that moving to mastodon was a fools errand all along.

The same will happen to Reddit. They will roll out the changes, wait out the fallout and then after a month or two, a big chunk of defiant redditors will come to terms with the reality.

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Jun 17, 2023 at 10:04amWeb
Show threadPiTauJun 17, 2023

Is there a better way? Possibly yes, but this would require democratization of the exiting private platforms. Ultimately the platform stands on its users so it seems rational to give them a say in the platform governance; it is their data, their time and their communities. But most of what I hear is how some redditors owned Reddit by taking actions, that their community won't uphold long enough. The stake is simply not proportional to the cost of the protest.

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Show threadPiTauJun 17, 2023

So the next time do not protest once a platform does something bad. Demand platform accountability constantly, indefinitely. Demand that the relation between you and the platform is shifted more towards an equal business partners than the big bad corporation form cyberpunk dystopia and a regular citizen.

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https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/infrastructures.png

Show threadAnti-authoritarianJun 17, 2023
@PiTau0 The fediverse has grown significantly since musks takeover. People have indeed stayed here. Now it is growing again with rexxit.

Seems like a good way to demand platform accountability constantly is to run a microblogging, link aggregator, macroblog, or video/photo sharing platform right out of a computer in a closest or help a friend run one. Just like the fediverse does on open protocol where all the different platforms can share and interact.
Show threadPiTauJun 17, 2023
@Anti-authoritarian I see here a dangerous shift of goals. I am not arguing for merely an alternative to exploitation. I am arguing to fight the exploitation. Alternatives are better than nothing, but it does not stop the cycle of aforementioned xkcd. The system is all the same, the new platform will rise, exploit its users and then be rewarded for that by the invisible hand of free market
Show threadAnti-authoritarianJun 17, 2023
@PiTau0
Building alternative systems is powerful direct action that some entire political ideolgies are based. Replacing one system by anither is as revolutionary as you can get in my opinion. Screaming on twitter each day about how you should receive ownership of some of the company if done moderately will be ignored and done more frequently will make you unpopular. People usually want Social media to be fun. People are not going to want to follow someone always complaining about their site their on. People would prob tell the complainers to move and that would be good advice.
Show threadPiTauJun 18, 2023
@Anti-authoritarian Creating alternative systems is vital but not sufficient on its own. Of cause screaming at Twitter won't change anything, it's not in their interest. But political actions and legislation that mandates accountability to users might make a difference. It's not easy, neither perfect solution, but if consequently pushed for long enough a feasible one. You don't fix systemic problems by moving somewhere else. You fix them by fixing the system itself.