During the month of December, I stopped using twitter for pretty obvious reasons. The Curb 's account still exists (maybe in the hope that he sells it off for $5 and someone with half a brain takes over), but it's not in use.

During the month of December, the visitors to The Curb dropped by 46%. I knew that Twitter was a huge part of the readership, but I didn't truly expect it to be *that* much. I know that the stat's for January are going to be skewed because of the Best Aussie films list, which is always the biggest piece on the site.

I don't want to say that a 46% drop doesn't bother me, because gosh, it really does, but I'm also not seeing any real alternative. I'm not going back to twitter, but I will really need to find *something else* than Facebook for the site. I know that Instagram and tiktok are 'go to' platforms, but they're also not link friendly. I don't really want to do a substack or a medium account because that's just doubling up work and, again, doesn't really drive people to the site.

At times like this, I'm glad that the site isn't driven by funding or money, because if that were the case it'd be out the window already. But I do need to move into 'different' areas to reach audiences. Reddit is a possibility given how many people are on there, but it's also Reddit.

Anyhow, this is just me voicing the regular frustration that small sites are tied to social media platforms to gain audiences attention. Joy!

In a facebook group I'm part of, somebody asked about hiring an Indigenous musician to create a 45 second sound grab for a marketing campaign for Invasion Day to sell 'Indigenous and Native food, like saltbush'. They were going to label it #changethedate monopolising on the day to sell products.

At no point did they question what they were doing. At no point did they think 'this might be a bad idea'. Instead, they posted in the group asking for suggestions of artists to contact.

Then people tagged a bunch of Indigenous members in the group, effectively bringing trauma to their attention.

White folks, I'm begging you, think, just *think* about what you're doing and why you're doing it. Are you trying to be an ally? If so, would what you're doing be considered genuinely supportive or would it be performative? Ask yourself, by inserting myself into this situation, who benefits the most? Who gains something from this action?

If you step away with the notion that only you will benefit, then don't do it.

And white folks, please, don't start tagging Indigenous folks in Invasion Day posts asking for advice. Think. It's a national day of trauma. Tagging them is throwing that trauma directly in their face when they've possibly but up barriers and protections to stop themselves from seeing traumatic posts.

Think.

Perth Festival rolls on next week with a truly self-indulgent film that is neither interesting or exciting.

This is My Old School:

https://www.thecurb.com.au/my-old-school-review-perth-lotterywest-film-festival/

For the longest time, my Facebook profile picture was the student stoner sloth from the failed Mike Baird NSW government anti-cannabis campaign. I loved it because it showed just how misguided and foolish government campaigns can be, something that was echoed with the milkshake/consent campaign.

Anyhow, my picture is now an image of me grinning like someone who's just watched the stoner sloth ad for the 151st time.