"There's something quietly beautiful about a place where people just... share what they know. No brand deals, no engagement metrics, no algorithm nudging you toward rage. Just someone who spent twenty years studying Arctic policy posting a thread at 2 AM because they think you should understand what's happening. It's the internet I was promised in 1996."
I can't immediately find the author Mat Duggan on Mastodon to credit him. I can, however, thank and credit @Ruth_Mottram for sharing the essay. And for being, if she doesn't mind me saying so, precisely one of those experts who generously share their knowledge with us - a leading climate scientist who toots from her fieldwork and her research and her lab because she wants us to know what's happening.
Edit to credit author @matdevdug (thanks for the handle, @jeridansky)
Boy I was wrong about the Fediverse https://matduggan.com/boy-i-was-wrong-about-the-fediverse/
"The Fediverse became the only reliable source of information I had. People posted links with a minimal amount of commentary, picking and choosing the best content from other social media networks. They’re not doing it to “build a brand” because that’s not a thing in the Fediverse. It’s too disjointed to be a place to build a newsletter subscription base. Instead it became the only place consistently posting trustworthy information I could actually access."
This! 👏👍
@CiaraNi What a wonderful essay. I join you in thanking @Ruth_Mottram for sharing it.
And I found Mat, so we can thank him directly: @matdevdug
@CiaraNi Mastodon gets a lot of love from many of its users, so it's worth pointing out that this love comes almost exclusively from white people. BIPOC folks tend to get a lot of harassment that is invisible to other users, due in part to followers-only posts. I see a lot of women who are outspoken reporting harassment, too.
This place is better than most others, but there's still room for improvement. Implementing the well-known solutions to these issues is one way to achieve that.
“Of course search was broken because all OSS social tools must have one glaring lack of functionality. In a nightmare world full of constant change it’s good to have a few constants to hold on to”
As someone trying desperately to make #Pixelfed work as a replacement to Instagram (and by “work” I don’t me “contribute code to improve”, I just mean “figure out how to post a video clip I recorded”), I deeply feel this comment
David Wood
Ciara
Eye
Jeri Dansky
Pat
Frosty
Emily Vale, Gendermancer
Josh