LillyLyle/Count MelancholiaStonekettle with his 250k followers claims he was told he was "unwelcome" on Mastodon.
Someone want to tell me why?
Is it because he has so many followers?
⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe@LillyHerself Or: who is "they"?
"Everyone on Mastodon" seems like a pretty unlikely answer. OTOH I can think of times when large parts of the fediverse have picked up torches and pitchforks for very flimsy reasons.
@fishidwardrobe I can't remember...did any of the instances let Stephen Fry on with his million followers?
There was talk of servers crashing...
There was talk of servers crashing...
@LillyHerself I think mastadonapp.co.uk still has him? It did cause them some problems when he joined, but only for a few days.
Nihl L'Amas@fishidwardrobe @LillyHerself I forget which server Wil Wheaton joined, but he did not get a warm welcome. I looked it up once and I recall thinking it looked like a somewhat lazy operation (no posted policy or moderated servers).
@NIH_LLAMAS @fishidwardrobe What a shame to lose Wil Wheaton!
@LillyHerself @NIH_LLAMAS Aaaand that was the time with the pitchforks I was referring to.
@fishidwardrobe @LillyHerself This is the one. No posted rules/about info, and they do have a moderated servers list but it's very short considering how many are blocked by others for nasty/illegal content.
https://mastodon.cloud/@wilw
https://mastodon.cloud/about
https://mastodon.cloud/@wilw
https://mastodon.cloud/about
Wil Wheaton isn't here. (@[email protected])
147 Posts, 16 Following, 3.04K Followers · This account is not active.
@fishidwardrobe @LillyHerself not the same one Stonekettle joined though
https://twitter.com/Stonekettle/status/1594357891817177089
https://twitter.com/Stonekettle/status/1594357891817177089
Stonekettle on Twitter
“For those asking: Mastodon: @[email protected] CoSo https://t.co/pacLkyIT0T Instagram https://t.co/CaPS5Ikzue Facebook https://t.co/9nGw3lCBxY Stonekettle FB Group https://t.co/G8xJ98RjLZ And https://t.co/wTSWXZvRVu Also... 1/”
@fishidwardrobe @LillyHerself Stonekettle apparently thinks the "tone police" on Mastodon are worse than the nazis on Twitter.
Not sure what got his account suspended to some degree, but he seems to hate this place overall.
Andrew Crawford@fishidwardrobe @LillyHerself @NIH_LLAMAS wil wrote about his experience here:
The world is a terrible place right now, and that’s largely because it is what we make it.
As most of you know, I deactivated my Twitter account earlier this month. It had been a long time coming, for a whole host of reasons, but Twitter’s decision to be the only social network tha…
@evermore @fishidwardrobe @LillyHerself I suspect a lot of the pile-on was fascists seizing an opportunity to use a misunderstanding to harass him with fake nasty progressive criticism (they do enjoy that).
🇺🇦 Optimisey 🇺🇦@LillyHerself Not sure who the "They" he's talking about are?
Mastodon is federated so... *someone* could let him on their server, if they wanted to... he could even set-up his own?
@optimisey I don't know what he means by "they" either. There are so many replies on that tweet imploring him to join various other platforms, that if I asked him to be more specific, he'd not likely even see my tweet.
Femme Malheureuse@LillyHerself This is a manufactured problem. He could launch his own closed instance and that'd be it, problem solved.
As much as I've enjoyed Stonekettle's commentary, he tends to be a hot head and overreacts rather than taking the time to think things through.
@LillyHerself I'm also going to add that I had followed him with two accounts -- the clone of this one, and another I use which is paired with a website for which I write.
He blocked my other account because I corrected him on a point of fact documented by several reported news articles.
Very touchy, very easily set off, making him a perfect target for trolls. And yet if he puts up with that volume of crap on Twitter, how is Mastodon so much worse?
Colin Peters@LillyHerself I am not absolutely certain, since I wasn’t following him or the drama, but my impression was that he was told by some number of people to put content warnings on pictures of birds, which he wouldn’t do for whatever reason, resulting in people continuing to tell him to do it and him continuing not to, which got on his nerves until he left. I don’t know if anyone reported him or tried to get admins involved, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
@LillyHerself I don’t remember hearing anything about his large following or politics. (But keep in mind I mostly only saw his reactions when they got into my timeline, not what he was reacting to.)
@LillyHerself I don’t agree with his reaction, but I have to admit he’s not the only one who doesn’t feel M’don is especially welcoming. We have something of an image problem. https://circumstances.run/@davidgerard/110654616878971481
@colinpeters I haven't run into this, personally.
I am mostly worried that people start an account and are faced with that monstrosity "the advanced interface" as the default, and don't realise there is an alternative.
If Masto wants to survive, they better make the simpler, twitter-like UI the default instead of that gawd-awful thing with the columns. It might be fine on a huge monitor, but on my 13" laptop it was a disaster.
Irvine Welsh said y'day he found Masto user-unfriendly.
@LillyHerself Although I agree with Irvine on that, I hear a *lot* of people recommend the advanced interface. I hardly use the web interface at all so I’ve never even tried it. Still, most complaints I see on and off M’don are about “gentle suggestions” by other users to do various things, or posts being taken down for breaking rules the poster wasn’t aware of. I’ve only had a couple of comments like that, but even when I agree with the suggestion, it can be viscerally irritating.
@colinpeters I see your point.
It strikes me as being similar to discussions in local politics IRL, with regard to Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, car-free streets etc, that there's always a disabled person who starts harping on about how they need their car or they can't get around.
It feels like they sabotage the proceedings for nothing. There will always be exceptions made for disabled people's vehicles, for emergency services etc.
It strikes me as being similar to discussions in local politics IRL, with regard to Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, car-free streets etc, that there's always a disabled person who starts harping on about how they need their car or they can't get around.
It feels like they sabotage the proceedings for nothing. There will always be exceptions made for disabled people's vehicles, for emergency services etc.
heavyboots@colinpeters @LillyHerself IIRC Advanced View isn’t on by default? But also, I would recommend an app for macOS/iOS users because Mona is super slick in pretty much every aspect and available on both platforms. (I presume there is an Android equivalent too, but don’t know it offhand.)
Only thing I do dislike about Mona is I frequently managed to double-tap the top of the screen trying to juggle my phone which loses my place in the thread. Seems to be no way to disable it either.
Shirley Marsh@colinpeters honest question: why would a content warning be needed on a bird picture? I'm asking bc I notice SO MANY pics on this site with warnings and I don't understand why.
@Yesbiscuit I *think* it may have been suggested for autistic users, because of eye contact (rather than because of the bird). Some people are stressed by pictures with direct eye contact, even with animals, or so I’ve heard.
Paul Lalonde@colinpeters @Yesbiscuit some people are stressed by my reaction to the suggestion of stress from eye contact from a photograph. I certainly am.
@Flux @colinpeters Where does it end? If I put the question "Might this photo stress someone?" to myself before every post, I will stress myself out to the point I won't use social media anymore. Last night I posted a picture of some sheep interacting with a person. Maybe someone gets upset looking at sheep or looking at sheep interacting with a human or...???
@Yesbiscuit @colinpeters [Edit: removed discussion on CWs and inability to even know them all. Realized I'm precariously close to making a straw man argument, and it adds nothing. Be kind to one another.]
@Yesbiscuit @Flux Yes, it can seem like it’s a bit too much. My approach is to not stress myself out about content warnings, or if I forget them once in a while. I certainly wouldn’t scold anyone for not using one. But I do try to use them if I have heard that it might make someone’s day a little easier for some specific image or topic (and I give people the benefit of a doubt that they’re not just claiming to be bothered by random things for no reason).
@colinpeters
Strange. I never put CWs on anything, and have them switched off for my own viewing. Birds?!?!
I am, however, diligent with ALT texting my photographs, which I seldom bothered with on Twitter.
I block people who post porn, anime, or artwork/handicrafts of poor quality.
Haven't run into any racists or nazis on here, and so far only one follow from one of those creepy guys who only follows women.
I feel sad that so many writers are heading for BlueSky.
@LillyHerself I’m not happy that so many people are going to Bluesky either. I can see why people who want a less Nazi Twitter like it, though. The low population made up of mostly accounts that were pretty active on Twitter makes it very lively and it’s got a new car smell. Perfect for Twitter addicts who would otherwise probably go off to Instagram or Facebook or TikTok (or Meta™️ Threads™️) rather than M’don anyway.
@colinpeters Jack Dorsey is on Masto's board and he also endorsed RFK jr, who is a dangerous wingnut, as president. So I wonder how long it will be nazi-free.
@LillyHerself People are aware of this, and some worry about it, of course, but most people are good at rationalizing things in order to enjoy themselves. (I am also guilty of this.)
Coyote of the Stars@LillyHerself Just a guess? From his 2018 twitter feed.
"My name is Jim Wright, I'm retired US Military intelligence officer and nowadays a professional political writer -- as most of my readers know.
There's no link in my profile because I got tired of death threats and lunatics following me home."
It has been my experience that anyone involved with the US government, particularly law enforcement or intelligence services gets a shit-ton of hate on most mastodon instances.
@LillyHerself I should also note, that observation is just what I've seen, not an endorsement or criticism.
@gedvondur He is extremely anti-Trump and writes political commentary from a left-wing perspective. But he has one of those ironic senses of humour, which causes misunderstandings.
This is no big deal for me, I haven't followed him for some time, but that tweet was RT'd by someone who is promoting BlueSky over Masto, as a kind of "proof" of how bad Masto is.
*That* is what bothers me.
This is no big deal for me, I haven't followed him for some time, but that tweet was RT'd by someone who is promoting BlueSky over Masto, as a kind of "proof" of how bad Masto is.
*That* is what bothers me.
Gerardo Lisboa@LillyHerself wasn't he invited to create his one server?
@gvlx I really don't know.
KevinFlynn 
@LillyHerself
He's welcome to be one of the millions of people who use Mastodon. He's also welcome not to if that's what he chooses. Everyone has their own experiences
He's welcome to be one of the millions of people who use Mastodon. He's also welcome not to if that's what he chooses. Everyone has their own experiences
The DJ Mr P@LillyHerself do you know it's true? Just because someone says it on social media doesn't make it true. It's equally plausible that he knows that moving to Mastodon means giving up a huge chunk of those followers but doesn't want to sound mercurial.
Infosec Lurker@LillyHerself IIRC, he felt hassled about not using hashtags (he seemingly does not ever use them), so he left.
kauer@iseclurker @LillyHerself people make it so complicated. Mastodon is simple - if people do not want to hear what you have to say, they can easily stop listening. They can do this individually or in self-organising groups. But they cannot stop you speaking.
Seems to me many people complain that "they wouldn't let me say what I wanted to say", when what really bothers them is that "they wouldn't let me force them to listen"
Which IMHO is the whole point of Mastodon.