Teri Kanefield@licked These are comments I get on social media, not big names.
One option is using my social media accounts to post links to my blog posts and just engaging on my blog.
I think I'm getting a skewed view of the world reading social media comments.
Mastodon MigrationMastodon is going through something right now. Sorry you are a focus. An increase in this type of behavior has been reported from a wide cross section of popular posters over the last few days. It seems to be a combination of deliberate trolling to sow dissent and demoralization, and genuinely frustrated but naive posters energized by the provocateurs. Cleaning up your feed by blocking these doom-sayers seems to be the best strategy for both the posters and followers.
I am also getting people who want to argue about one of my blog posts, but they absolutely refuse to read the blog post.
Someone just accused me of "promoting" my blog.
I pay almost $300 per month to maintain a blog. I don't use Substack because I don't like asking people for money. Sheesh.
Long form allows me to explain complex ideas. Threads are easier to fire off, but a blog post takes more care.
Yesterday two other popular US politics accounts were targets of a lot of this kind of off-the-wall nay-saying and ad hominem criticism. The reason they do it is to generate frustration and despondency in an effort to quiet your voice. It's ugly, but effective. The thing about social media, that we actually saw play out in the trial today, is that a determined few can make life pretty miserable for popular figures.
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What we can do as a community is express our support. These folks are a vocal minority. The vast majority here appreciate what you are doing and value what we are learning from your posts. We should not hesitate to convey our positive feedback.
The other thing we can do is help police the feed. When someone is out of line, it should not be exclusively up to the poster. Call them out. Block them. Treat these feeds as a shared resource and help defend their integrity.
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Thank you.
I do worry that I direct too much of my blog writing toward those voices.
How many people really believe that "there is never enough accountability."
OnTwitter, the Garland heckling is going full-swing. I assume the average Democratic voters has no ill feelings toward Garland
The idea of blaming all of our woes an an AG is really bizarre when you think about it.
I want my writing directed at most people not a vocal few.
jz.tusk@Teri_Kanefield @mastodonmigration
I feel like I may be going a little bit too much towards paranoia with this, but we do know that troll farms exist. And while it's easy to see what effect they have other places, it can be hard to admit that we might be victims of them.
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@Teri_Kanefield @mastodonmigration
If someone's comments seem like all they will do is discourage people from participating, from hoping, or from reinforcing positive social institutions and practices, I treat them just like any troll, and block/mute. 2/X
@Teri_Kanefield @mastodonmigration
If I start to worry that I might be mislabeling an innocent person, I remember what one of the best on-line moderators I ever knew would say to such people:
"You are coming across as a troll. Regardless of whether or not that is your intent, it is entirely up to you to ensure that you do not come across that way."
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@Teri_Kanefield @mastodonmigration
I know you are strongly dedicated to public communication, and probably don't block willingly, And I admire the heck out of that (I sure couldn't do it).
But if you ever seriously consider closing down your Mastodon account, I'll say that I'd miss it, and would personally prefer it if you tried sticking around, but with a quicker finger on the mute button.
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@Teri_Kanefield @mastodonmigration
Oh, and as for the troll farms: I saw a few messages between some server admins about a recent spate of iffy accounts.
If Mastodon is ever going to be serious force for political action, it is going to be a serious target for political attacks.
As noted, I don't want to fall into paranoia, because it's way to easy too do, and then we're not dealing with reality. But I do think we should be consider being ready for incoming bad actions.
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