Dan GillmorJul 29, 2023

I hope that Mastodon folks who like to scold newcomers will realize how off-putting -- and damaging -- that behavior is.

Please be helpful, not scornful. Let's reduce the genuine risk of poisoning fediverse growth, and thereby giving social-media oligarchs indefinite control over online discourse.

Having said that, Mastodon/fediverse could/should do more to make users' experiences more gratifying.

Read this essential post from @kissane to understand more. https://erinkissane.com/mastodon-is-easy-and-fun-except-when-it-isnt

Show threadAndy McKayJul 29, 2023

@dangillmor @kissane

"About half of the people whose primary or secondary reasons fit into this category talked about content warnings, and most of those responses pointed to what they perceived as unreasonable—or in several cases anti-trans or racist—expectations for content warnings."

"Others said that their fear of unintentionally breaking CW expectations or other unwritten rules of fedi made them too anxious to post, or made posting feel like work."

Show threadAndy McKayJul 29, 2023

@dangillmor @kissane That has certainly been my experience, along with scolding by white knights for not using image descriptions which made me want to use them even less. I post images a lot and having to describe every one in detail is tiresome.

I'm staying because I like the decentralised, open-source aspect, but I'm posting on my terms. I figure we are all adults so people are welcome to block me if they need/want to. I certainly do with other people.

Show threadBlack Chic with the Red TruckJul 29, 2023
@KorimakoEcology @dangillmor @kissane
Still seems like a strange logic to say, “oh these requests for cw or alttext are a lot, so I will just go back to the blatantly abusive dumpster fire I came from or maybe choose another equally offensive dumpster fire…”
Like- ok… 🤔
Personally it only took me a little bit of lurking before I felt comfortable and understood the culture well enough to start posting and I’m assuming it would be that way on any other platform. 🤷🏾‍♀️
But yes- people should post as they want and let the chips fall where they may- as they do everywhere else.
Show threadAndy McKayJul 30, 2023

@ReneeWestberry @dangillmor @kissane Except it just means I have posted here less, I haven't posted anything to Twitter since I left or tried Bluesky or Threads.

I very occasionally cross-post stuff to Instagram and it is a significantly more straight forward experience.

Show threadBlack Chic with the Red Truck
@KorimakoEcology
I mean yeah of course it is. And if that’s your priority then that’s what you should do. Easy posting and they steal all your shit and unload a shit load of adds and bots into your timeline.
I just got tired of all that and them deciding for me what I get to see- what news they think is relevant etc. then when they’re done playing their games they just pull the trigger on the whole thing.
Like- I will put up with a slightly more complicated system to not have to deal with that nonsense.
And I don’t mind at all having to think about people with disabilities or mental health things to deal with so I can use this platform.
That’s the easiest part, honestly.
Jul 30, 2023 at 1:46amWeb