I don't want this any more, a continuous stream of six or seven different things, all jarring me in every which direction.
I don't want tech news and pleas for the lives of people's children next to memes of Skeletor.
This isn't good for me. This thing where some of the worst crimes humanity commits against ourselves are literally next to cute cat videos.
I need to separate my streams. It's not optional any more
@OrionKidder I hear you. I should probably curate my stream a little better, too. (I posted something about needing to improve my filters, maybe 4–6 weeks ago? And then failed to do so.)
I want to keep up with people like you, and various others here. That's what I log on for: the human connection. I should probably just unfollow some folks who post nothing but politics.
(I'm actually okay with the Skeletor memes. They're not doing me any damage. I occasionally... 1/2
@OrionKidder ...even enjoy them. But I recognize YMMV.)
If you need to take a step back, I will understand. But I'd really like not to lose touch with you. I've enjoyed our interactions, and consider you either a friend or a potential friend, depending on one's definitions. 2/2
@kagan Man, same. We are definitely internet friends.
But here's the thing. I have two different accounts: one on mas.to and one on writing.exchange. The writing exchange account is my oasis of non-terror. It's the firehose feed that I have to curate.
@OrionKidder @kagan I realised this a few years ago. I've never liked news (re) posts in microblogging, but is difficult to control outside of Mastodon specifically.
Here it comes down to (for me):
- Not following news accounts
- Extensive filtering
- Disabling boosts from accounts who repost rage bait
- Mute/block freely on Local and Federated timelines
- Using lists for some accounts
- Using @ tag-<hashtag>@relay.fedi.buzz (no space) to "follow" hashtags that you can then put into a list
@OrionKidder @jumile The only one I know so far is to go to the hashtag itself (e.g., https://wandering.shop/tags/WritersCoffeeClub) and hit the "Follow Hashtag" button in the top right. But I assume that's what you meant by "via the GUI", right? And I don't know how one would add that to a list.
Sorry.
@OrionKidder @kagan Just following a firehose hashtag nukes your timeline. Everything else gets pushed out, etc.
Using the fedi.buzz method I mentioned mimics following an account that you can then move into a List, preserving your timeline. You can view it when you want.
@OrionKidder @kagan Hope it's useful! It is for me. 😊
I only know about it thanks to @FediTips posting about it a while back - after the a.gup.pe reflectors went offline, IIRC.
@OrionKidder I tried making lists on Bluesky. I wound up just reading the "Friends" list and not really looking at the others, except when Bsky logs me out for inactivity, and then when I log back in I'm looking at the main feed.
Maybe I should spend a little more time curating things over there... but I'm so comfy over *here*, it feels like wasted effort. Especially on a platform that's already billionaire-captured and enshittifying, and already engaging in egregious censorship.
@kagan IMO don't bother with Bluesky if you don't have to. More mainstream people and sources are on there, and I went there bc some friends when there, but it's *going* to enshittify.
The one thing it has is pre-built feeds. I clicked on the "Linux" feed, and it brings me posts with a handful of key words, but not based on hashtags! So posters didn't *elect* to be part of that list, and sometimes it gets contentious.
What I really want on Masto is to make lists that follow hastags, FFS.
@kagan And the social media companies know it. We're ensnared by our human bonds. They love exploiting those.
The future sucks.
@OrionKidder Re ¶1: I'm very glad for that confirmation! 😄
Re ¶2: Oh, I understand now. Yeah, that sounds troublesome. (But I'm still glad to be part of the oasis.)
Orion Ussner kidder
Kagan MacTane (he/him)
Jumile