RE: https://social.coop/@scottjenson/116352522288234148

Oh. so this is the thread people have been talking about.

jfc.

look, i only know of Dare from Twitter & the tech scene. so that’s almost 20 years now (i joined there in 2007). Dare is like the Black unicorn of techbrolandia. he was never the guy to bring visibility to what’s newsworthy. he’s always been around to amplify techbros.

you know who was followed for what was newsworthy?

ME.

i was in the top 5 of most influential accounts during the #ArabSpring & #OccupyWallStreet

šŸ§µā€¦

look, i used Twitter as a news platform way before most people even imagined it could be used as such.

i was reporting on-the-ground, posting pics & videos with my Blackberry by 2008. i created a lot of what's now considered conventional reporting.

that’s why thousands of reporters and news orgs followed me. i was the journalists’ journalist.

and it’s why i later found out, thanks to Edward Snowden, i had been targeted by techbros. because am a nobody (to them) that people trust.

šŸ§µā€¦

there’s a lot of bullshit with the ā€œbut where are the Black peopleā€.
https://social.coop/@scottjenson/116352800579635299

if the #fediverse isn’t like corporate ā€œsocial mediaā€ built for surveillance; then stop trying to use Mastodon to stalk people.

BIPOC come to the fediverse to not be the target of the WHITE GAZE. they come to the fediverse to be whatever the fuck they want to be.

BIPOC are here, using their personas of choice, cuz they’re NOT here for you to stalk them.

šŸ§µā€¦

Scott Jenson (@[email protected])

As this conversation is spiraling a bit I want to make a few things clear: 1. I'd like Mastodon to be MORE inclusive and bring in more voices 2. Some people don't seem to want that 3. This is core problem to solve: How do we let more in, but not "pollute" your feed? 4. The solution is NOT "gatekeeping", revelling in the fact that AI journalists aren't welcome 5. This is the same reason we lost "Black Twitter" when it came over in 2022 Yes, a lot of you don't want AI posts in your feed (or pick any other topic) but the solution isn't to keep "AI People" from joining Mastodon, any more than it is keeping marginalized communities off of Mastodon.

social.coop
@blogdiva It’s pretty hilarious how he has all this energy to step up for AI journalists, but I didn’t see him anywhere when Black folks were getting harassed off the fedi for years.

Especially considering he has direct contact and influence with the Masto team.
@are0h @blogdiva Scott only joined the Mastodon team in I think late 2024. AFAIK he was one of the driving forces behind involving Black users in the co-design of Mastodon's quote post feature, but you'd have to ask him (or someone who was involved, @mekkaokereke I believe?) for the details.
@julian @blogdiva @mekkaokereke Ha, nah. I’m good. I am all to familiar with white men trying to tokenize Black folks to look ā€˜progressive.’