Sometimes I think what we really want from social media is to say whatever we please without having to deal with other people’s pesky opinions.
Speaking only for myself, I invite you to disagree with me whenever you like. 🙃 Honest differences keep the blogosphere interesting.
@cheri no good seems to come from people saying whatever they want; many times thinking whatever doesn’t mean it needs to be said…
@cheri Having the right to say something somewhere -- especially on social media -- doesn't mean it's wise to actually say it. It's called "social" for a reason. (And I have to remember that sometimes.)
That said, I'm with @sku\_b in not having comments on my blog. Call it unsocial media, I guess.
@cheri Nice one... I used to have a Tumblr account used solely for the purpose of ranting. I doubt if anyone ever saw it (and it was anon so for sure no one I knew saw it). It was therapeutic for awhile but ultimately lost it’s appeal.
@cheri Part 2 would be I also don’t mind people disagreeing. I don’t think I’ve ever blocked or unfollowed anyone because they disagreed with me or I of them. I mostly do it when someone either rants repeatedly about something or frequently posts in what I consider to be a juvenile manner.
@garciabuxton Well said. I always try to think what effect something I post will have on other people, how easily could it be misinterpreted, and whether I’m expressing it positively rather than just ranting. One result is I just never talk about certain things because I’ve found social media is highly ineffective for those topics. The posts could generate a lot of discussion but not change anyone’s mind or make anyone feel better.
And having seen how social media services have evolved into 💩 holes I tend to favor having rules that keep things kid safe. First, kids should be able to participate and secondly “kid” friendly tends to also mean policing hate etc carefully. One Discord server I’m on adopted the kid safe approach. Some of the members were pretty upset about it, censorship and so on. But the reality is if you’re thoughtful you can discuss nearly anything in a kid safe manner.
@garciabuxton I don’t think there’s anything wrong with turning off blog comments. Although I wouldn’t call such a blog social media. That’s just publishing. 🙂
@cheri Agreed. Sometimes I think I do blog and microblog just to get my content publishing ya-yas out from my newspaper days.
I've dealt with people who seem to think it's their God-given right to comment on a personal blog, which I find kind of odd.
@ronguest Thinkikng about "whether I'm expressing it positively rather than just ranting." There is so much wisdom in that.
I generally try not to talk overtly about politics, for instance, though I do slip sometimes. (Even when I mentioned Kamala Harris positively a few days ago, I was mainly commenting about my alarm that we may end up with a Raiders fan in the White House.) But even the most benign mentions will spark rants that, in turn, just spark more rants. And there's not really any substantial, productive, or edifying dialogue in that at all.
Why is "kid safe" always assumed to be synonymous with "bland" or "dull" or "censored"? You're right -- it takes some thought to be "kid safe." Maybe that's the problem in some circles? ;)
