𝙉𝙤𝙖𝙝 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙛22h ago

There are a few really popular accounts here on the Fediverse that I muted some time ago. It’s not that I don’t understand why folks follow them, it’s more that I couldn’t understand why I felt like those accounts bothered me so much. I mean…it’s folks like Robert Reich and George Takei so it’s certainly not a content issue, and I love reading them under other circumstances.

It took me a while to tease it out and it ultimately comes down to the difference between the Fediverse and sites like Twitter.

When I had an account there I rarely posted anything and after a few attempts to participate in conversations, realized that I was whispering at a Throbbing Gristle concert and no one was hearing me.

So when you look at accounts like Robert Reich or George Takei, they’re not actually here, they’re just mirrors of content they write elsewhere. So even though I see people responding to those posts as if they’re writing to a specific person, they might as well be replying to a bot.

Take as a counterpoint folks like @RickiTarr or @TheBreadmonkey. Very popular accounts, thousands of followers, but they’re actually here, they’re a part of the ecosystem and will boost, reply, favorite, etc.

I love that about this wild, weird, little slice of internet. I think that’s why I muted folks like Robert Reich, they’re not actually here to interact, they’re ultimately not a part of the community. They’re just here so they can access us, not interact with us. That’s not why I’m here. If I reply to someone, I want to know there’s a high likelihood they see it, whether or not they choose to respond to it.
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ETA: A few folks have pointed out that they've gotten replies from George Takei so it seems that this is more my personal experience there and there is at least a human on the other end of the posts which I'm glad to be wrong about as I adore George Takei.

Show threadI AM BANKSY ☕ / 🗑‍🔥20h ago

@monkeyninja
That Reich account pissed me off so much. They're taking screenshots on the account on Other Media, posting them without alt text.

They could arguably copy the text way easier and post that here as well. The lack of interaction is annoying, but I can understand a policy of not interacting at a certain level.

Takei couldn't keep up if he wanted to, but I think the account has been posting with alt text and CW, so I don't mind so much.

@RickiTarr @TheBreadmonkey @magdalenahai

Show threadI AM BANKSY ☕ / 🗑‍🔥20h ago

@monkeyninja
The visually different screenshots that they'd post for Reich, though - light mode, dark mode, different fonts. Makes me think it's an unofficial sketchy posting bot.

@RickiTarr @TheBreadmonkey @magdalenahai

Show threadI AM BANKSY ☕ / 🗑‍🔥20h ago

@monkeyninja
Now, let's talk some shit about Doctorow who told me I was using Mastodon wrong because I said I didn't want to see parts 1-300 of some multi-toot thread nonsense reposted individually from his blog.

Sometimes the biggies that do respond are also a problem :)

@RickiTarr @TheBreadmonkey @magdalenahai

Show thread𝙉𝙤𝙖𝙝 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙛
@xinit @RickiTarr @TheBreadmonkey @magdalenahai Interesting. I’ve only interacted with him a handful of times but they were relatively friendly and positive interactions. I’m not sure what “using it incorrectly” could even mean though. Like…were you embedding Eldritch Horrors into your posts so that readers would be consumed by Yog-Sothoth or something? Even then, I just see that as malevolently creative.
Mar 22 at 5:10pmWeb
Show threadI AM BANKSY ☕ / 🗑‍🔥19h ago

@monkeyninja
Oh, I WAS embedding Eldritch Horrors. Damn it, now I feel bad!

I honestly don't know. I'd subtooted about how tedious getting a dump of 300 parts was, when he could have threaded it or linked to the blog or RSS. He basically told me there was no way I was seeing what I was seeing on my timeline.

I don't bear him ill will, but I think he reserves being nice to people who agree with everything he says. I've had positive interactions previously, so maybe this was an outlier.