Mastodawn

Erin Conroy Jul 3, 2023

You should stay away from #Bluesky, not actively help Jack Dorsey make his next billion & build his power as an owner of another social media empire.

Dorsey helped fund Musk's takeover to the tune of $1 billion, making him one of Musk's top backers (after Qatar).

He owns part of Twitter.

He & Musk planned Musk's takeover at Twitter. They are collaborators, not competitors.

https://progressives.social/@chargrille/110286207887749108

>Edit to add Dave Troy's piece https://davetroy.medium.com/no-elon-and-jack-are-not-competitors-theyre-collaborating-3e88cde5267d

Erin Conroy (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image Dorsey will be happy with one arm of #Bluesky being used by his advisor Ali Alexander to plan the next armed Proud Boys/GOP attack on the Capitol building - and the other arm being used by you to fruitlessly bemoan SCOTUS corruption & the New Jim Crow voting restrictions, & what he & Musk undoubtedly delight, behind closed doors, in referring to as "woke nonsense." The $ & power asymmetry makes this work for the GOP. No content moderation means no pesky Congressional hearings for him & Musk.

Mastodon progressives

The thing that makes me sooooooooooo depressed is that I strongly suspect that none of these facts/considerations are likely to change the mind of a single person who's on Bluesky or thinking about joining it.

I'm at a loss to know what matters to people outside of user experience that would possibly lead them to take a longer term outlook.

If you've insights, they are officially solicited.

CarlG Jul 3, 2023

@chargrille "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." -Albert Einstein.

How can anyone fed up with #twitter join #bluesky without stopping to ask how submitting to the control of one deranged oligarch over another is an improvement.

Erin Conroy Jul 3, 2023

@CarlG314 Especially since it's the SAME oligarch who created Twitter, moved heaven & earth to make sure his buddy oligarch took it over, & still has a $1 billion stake in Twitter.

If Bluesky takes off, I'm sure they'll follow the original plan & transition Twitter to Jack's AT Protocol that Bluesky will run.

Samir Al-Battran Jul 3, 2023

@chargrille
The average user doesn't care, they want a reliable service with good content

Erin Conroy Jul 3, 2023

@samir OK so one vote for "no one cares", but what do you think they mean by "good content"?

Samir Al-Battran Jul 3, 2023

@chargrille
Not a vote, that's just the reality honestly.
As for good content, I mean people seeing people seeing content you care about. The content I see here is interesting to me (technology), but not much else outside of that
There was a local election for example last week, nothing on that, there is chaos in the middle east, nothing of that.
So tech is interesting to me, but not to most people. Also hardly any of my friends are here 🤷

Dr Samuel Douglas Jul 3, 2023

@chargrille I think part of it, for people who actually think beyond user experience and network effects, is lack of belief in a good alternative. All social media that functions as frictionlessly as people want it to is deeply (and probably inherently) tainted by the worst tendencies of capitalism.

@chargrille my understanding is that Dorsey seeded it and stepped back.

Erin Conroy Jul 3, 2023

@Karoli I've seen that asserted here and there, but it's not sourced. And Graber actually gave exactly the opposite answer to the press:

Q: "Dorsey is on your board & helped dream this all up...has there been a change with his involvement in Bluesky? Graber: Nope."

But, the real issue is that Dorsey owns it (prob at least 1/3 share, maybe more) & will get control & profits. Press has not answered any of this or given Bluesky real critical scrutiny.

William Pietri Jul 3, 2023

@chargrille
If it's any help, I think there will never be another Twitter. A global groupchat worked because of the novelty and the lack of alternatives. But I think now we'll just end up with fragmentation.

Personally, I think of this in terms of populations. To use food as an analogy, most people don't pick their diet for rational reasons. Occasionally, somebody is ready to change and will then listen to facts. So I try to keep my hopes at that level. I'll explain why they should change their habits, why it is good for them and everybody else. I'm not going to expect more than a modest percentage to do the right but unsatisfying thing. And I'll try to celebrate the progress, with only modest despair at the gap between the current step forward and how far I think we still have to go.

Erin Conroy Jul 3, 2023

@williampietri I think I have a lot more personal growth on acceptance to go before I can be at your point but I see why it is good for mental health.

I guess these Bluesky threads are my version of saying

"I thought we all realized that partially hydrogenated oils damage our health. Why is everyone trying to get their friends to eat the newest version of partially hydrogenated oils, made by the exact same company that sold them to us the first time?"

Pass the Dutchie Jul 3, 2023

@chargrille i think some twitter accounts need the antagonist. They are skilled at persuasion. Mastodon is preaching to the choir.

Erin Conroy Jul 3, 2023

@kcanales02 I like persuasion, but I prefer to deal with people who are capable of rational conversation & exchanges where both parties care whether they're misrepresenting the facts - & there's been very little of that on Twitter for years. Mostly it's just dunking back & forth since 2020, even among other Democrats. I used it to gather information & share actions with other people and Mastodon is great for both of those things - even better the more people join!

https://mastodon.social/users/kcanales02/statuses/110648306620664147

Erin Conroy Jul 3, 2023

@kcanales02 I suspect that people are pretty deluded about how much persuasion actually happens between Republicans and Democrats.

Virginicus Jul 3, 2023

@chargrille The Romans who enjoyed chariot races and gladiators didn’t care that the games were paid for by a loathsome emperor.

blake shaw 🇵🇸Jul 4, 2023

@chargrille i know from friends who have tried coming here during this migration cycles that they arrive to see posts from people explaining "what not to bring with you from twitter" and various ground rules that long time Mastodon users champion, and they see the warnings posted about various servers people should defederate, and that makes them feel like this won't be a place where their weird, defamiliarizing, negative posts will be allowed to flourish, and so stop trying after a few days.

blake shaw 🇵🇸Jul 4, 2023

@chargrille also like, most people I talk to say they want quote retweets but its not happening because one of the maintainers got dunked on badly on Twitter back when (apparently), and that kind of stuff adds up to a not very inviting place, a sort of country club vibe, where they club's members are sure that their way is the correct way and if you don't like it you can join a server that is unanimously blocked.

Erin Conroy Jul 4, 2023

I also would like QTs and searchability, though I also get the reasons they were consciously omitted and I think it's respectful practice to get to know the place you move to before you leap in to change it around. There are workarounds. Have you tried elk.fedified? The QT feature is thoughtfully designed & does an automatic screenshot with alt text, which is awesome.

Erin Conroy Jul 4, 2023

@rml Anyway, thanks for your thoughtful response, I appreciate it.

blake shaw 🇵🇸Jul 4, 2023

@chargrille ill check out elk! Thanks

Erin Conroy Jul 4, 2023

@rml It's a fork of elk that @DataDrivenMD developed. It's just elk.fedified, not all of elk. FYI.

Erin Conroy Jul 4, 2023

Yes, I experienced that unwelcome feeling too. I took a break and came back. I've done that many times because I think speaking the truth is important. I think that as more people have joined, the policing has subsided. As someone used to being constantly attacked on Twitter from all sides, I'm a little confused why it's troublesome to people who've been on Twitter for any amount of time, though. Twitter is far more hostile. But I know the fediverse phenomenon you are talking about.