Mastodawn

helafella Jul 1, 2023

@alcaldood I am listening to that one too. Thanks for providing a great summary of some important facts.

Mirro1Man Jul 1, 2023

@alcaldood more like it's a tool for musk, well-being of others doesn't concern him

Alastair Jul 1, 2023

@Mirro1Man Yes. He deserves to fail, but it's sad if he brings Twitter down with him, as a lot of genuine people rely on it.

Jєss - Expansion nonnegotiable Jul 1, 2023

@alcaldood I knew it was inevitable that he would finally kill Twitter.

I wish I trusted Telegram enough to migrate there, but that's a hell no for me.

Alastair Jul 1, 2023

@jsuprenant Same here. I tried it briefly but just don't have the stomach for it.

@jsuprenant @alcaldood TG I barely use it. My primary concern is Natalia's safety. She was a political prisonner in Belarus.

misshiss Jul 1, 2023

@alcaldood I caught the tail end of that space. Was so good. Sounds like he will do another space tomorrow evening.

Alastair Jul 1, 2023

@RockyMtnMom Yes - I love how Oz encourages people to share their different perspectives. I'll definitely tune in tomorrow!

Love Trumps Hate Jul 1, 2023

@alcaldood

Kevin Leecaster Jul 2, 2023

@alcaldood
Most of the discussion I end up seeing about ELoon and the Saudi's purchase of that foul site is so damn focused on the USA. I wonder how much impact their undermining that public square has affected people in other countries.

@GreenFire I know. In the USA and most of Europe there are usually other options but in countries where media is censored or monitored it's a lifeline of information.

@alcaldood @GreenFire I hope Mastodon can be an alternative. In Belarus, they use TG but I'm very wary about it

@GreenFire @alcaldood Not being able to help political prisonners, no info available about the situation in Cuba, Belarus... Not sure it's the answer you search though.

Paranoid Factoid Jul 2, 2023

@alcaldood I was listening. The Nigerian was David Hundeyin, and one of his anecdotes was how he'd discovered the then President elect had marked on his campaign form that he didn't have another citizenship. But Hundeyin discovered that he did in fact have another passport and was a dual citizen. This is important because that's illegal there.

So Hundeyin published this on Twitter. The tweet had millions of views. But Twitter suspended him for posting private info.

Paranoid Factoid Jul 2, 2023

@alcaldood Even though the man was president elect.

Hundeyin appealed. But Twitter denied the appeal and forced him to delete the tweet.

Then the Nigerian courts got involved and used a screenshot of his tweet as evidence in part of the case.

He used this as an example of how Elon is helping government officials engage in criminal activity and hide it.

EDIT: typo and minor fixes for clarity.

@ParanoidFactoid Thanks for posting the full story. The way Musk helps authoritarian regimes is just disgusting.

Paranoid Factoid Jul 2, 2023

@alcaldood Agreed.

@alcaldood @ParanoidFactoid It is. And I worry for political prisonners in Belarus. The cpartisans and other activists there.
Especially when you have a very useless Special Rapporteur for Belarus at Useless Nations

@alcaldood But when do people simply ditch Twitter as unusable, and treat it as history? Or are people going to do like the journalism outfits and beg for privileges?

It seems to me wrong to talk about Twitter AS IF IT STILL EXISTS. I consider it GONE and suggest others view it that way. It simply no longer exists.

Look at it this way: even if one were to get back the means to communicate about natural disasters TOMORROW, there’s no reliability for THE DAY AFTER THAT. Better to assume it gone.

@chemoelectric Yes I agree with all that. I just don't know what the alternative is yet. Mastodon is funded by donations and staffed by volunteers, who do a fantastic job, but can it scale using that model? As users increase, interactions increase by a much higher factor, and at some point it will need a reliable source of funding.

@alcaldood @chemoelectric And how can it be provided? That's the problem

Let us keep in mind that "Mastodon", unlike Twitter, is not a website. It cannot provide quite the same services.

If an outfit wants to provide emergency broadcasts, for instance, it will need a website.

Even just to use Mastodon one needs a website. Currently I sm using masto.ai. I used to use mstdn.social. Sometimes I do essentially the same from pixelfed.social.

@chemoelectric @alcaldood Now, the problem is for the emergency alert. Elmo has destroyed that

In a sense, yes. But Twitter was hanging by a thread as a business, anyway.

As an aside: my opinion of Jack Dorsey never was any better than my opinion of Musk. It ends up unsurprising that Dorsey foisted Musk on Twitter, even after holding it up from imminent collapse a few years ago.

If there is a centralized emergency broadcast site OTOH, then it can federate and be visible on Mastodon. But also on Pixelfed, etc.

It's a different way of looking at things than Twitter.

So that's what one really wants. It's a thing governments should provide but of course we are constrained by the desires of very bad (in different senses of that word) people of all political persuasions.

@chemoelectric @giulia2575 That's a great point. Yes governments should be stepping in here, not to dictate how to do it but to support the people who actually take the initiative.

James Hetfella Jul 2, 2023

@chemoelectric @alcaldood in that sense, Twitter has been dead to me ever since Elmo bought it

Andi Jul 2, 2023

@alcaldood it’s not a game. It’s his trophy bought with dirty foreign money and he runs it solely to pleasure himself.

@theandil Not what we'd think of as a game, no. But he's a sociopath, enjoys playing with people's lives.

@alcaldood @theandil Malignant narc can also fit the bill too, IMHO

@theandil @alcaldood As a narc as Elmo is

The Beethoven Group Jul 2, 2023

@alcaldood really shows the damage a sociopath can have on others. Elon has no concern for others. Jack might not of agreed with a lot at twitter but he backed away from damaging a necessary social tool. It’s a shame monetary concerns outweighed the risk of selling to Musk

@Beethoven_Group @alcaldood Sociopath and malignant narcs. I've heard that Elmo was pro-apartheid, but not sure of the latter reliability. So, take it with a grain of salt

The Beethoven Group Jul 2, 2023

@giulia2575 @alcaldood I 100% believe it. He grew up in the Apartheid system and benefited from it. Even when his mother moved him to Canada it seems the father was still paying for him and his mom.

Spag Jul 2, 2023

@alcaldood some of the stuff people spoke about in that space was eye-opening. We’ve come to depend on it. Remember that Saudi girl who ran away from her abusive parents and brother? Watching in real time as officials organised her safe travel to Canada and found her refuge. Musk has made the world a little bit worse

@yesmissmurphy @alcaldood Much worse. He is as dangerous as Enver Hoxha, Pinochet, Strossner, Trujillo....

FFJoe Jul 2, 2023

@alcaldood it’s the same among (mostly Eton educated ) UK politicians too like Cameron betting EU membership away, Kwartang playing with the economy and Johnson playing at being PM. Elites see us all as pawns in their games.