In which I leave Twitter: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2022/11/26/Bye-Twitter
I've taken the account private, removed the app permissions, turned off SMS 2FA (leaving app based on,) and left a pointer here.
Hoping the feds intervene, but not much faith they will.
@timbray counter.social is an odd one. i belive it used to be in the fediverse, but pissed off so many people and got so widely defenestrated (i'm gonna say that now) that the guy went "screw you i'm gonna be a shining jewel of my own".
I remember a long thread where a counter.social user was telling someone what a great example of mastodon it was and how they should totally join it, and mentioned only at the end that by the way it's not federated at all with the rest. Cos it's too cool, obviously.
@timbray 🎉 congrats on making the jump! there should be a name for the level of disengagement you're describing; I stopped using Twitter for anything but linking to blog posts too. Twitter vegetarianism?
@timbray I agree with everything you've said except one word: Hive. I've installed the client and played around, and they don't really seem like A Twitter at all.
I'd describe them as... I dunno. TwinstaTok? The discovery tab ("for you"/trending) is an image grid by topic. Hashtags seem almost bolted on. And, of course, mobile-first (and so far mobile-only), like Instagram when it first launched.
They might not succeed in their niche, but that niche isn't "new Twitter".
@timbray i disagree with the assertion that cohost in particular is doomed, mostly bc i don’t see them chasing some massive growth strategy or VC funding. i think the team will be happy to chug along as a lifestyle company for a long time. they’re catering to a more specific type of audience too that i think helps. maybe not. agree with the rest of the doomed networks tho.
@timbray very happy to be following you off twitter now. I also don't want to support any of what Elno is brewing over there now
@timbray I left today, too: deleted all my tweets, likes, & follows to make sure I'd not want to go back.
It's not federated because it blocked a bunch of IP addresses--ones from Russia, China, Pakistan, and three other countries--because the admin says that's where most troll farms and bots are from.
The rest of the fediverse blocked CounterSocial after that. I'm there once in a while and it's a nice, if as-yet-small, place.
@timbray Tim was randomly one of the first people who I didn’t know in real life to follow me on Twitter, I think because I was tweeting from RailsConf 2008…
@timbray Hope you’re right about larger paid instances arriving — reliability and moderation will require funds. I’ve been paying $2/mo for years but would pay more for this non-click-driven world
@AliceAllonym @timbray @davidgerard
I found the Counter interface confusing. Haven’t been there in awhile. Also, didn’t want to pay to get news.
@timbray If you're at all like me, you'll feel an urge occasionally to walk by the old place and see what's going on. It'll pass more quickly than you can imagine.
@timbray I found this article on Hacker News... and then it immediately got taken down because HN firmly believes that neutrality in the face of injustice is not only acceptable, but is a moral imperative.
@Pxtl Hey, I noticed that. My stuff gets on HN fairly often and I'm used to getting beat up a bit there, but sometimes there's really useful commentary.
I've never had a piece vanish before.
How/when does something get taken down? Are there organized downvoting campaigns or something? Or just an HN mod doesn't like it?
@timbray The “I’ve already written about Mastodon.” Link is busted. Found the piece, but you might wanna fix it.
@AliceAllonym @davidgerard @timbray the guy that runs counter social has always been a bit of a weirdo. He went after wikileaks and anonymous back in the day. Very jack Bauer mentality. I'd avoid his instance if you have intention to try and improve society somewhat.
Yes, I read all the information I could find on him. I work daily to improve society, & will continue to do so.
Internecine hacker pissing contests are right under "illegal material" on the list of things I avoid online (internecine everybody-else wars constituting most of the rest of the items on the list).
@Pxtl OK, I realized the discussion page was still there at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33759340 and it shows as "flagged". Now to figure out what that means…
@timbray sounds like the right thing. I stoped my tiny postings for the same reason. It clearly mutated to a hell site of a sociopathic billionaires and a playhouse of Nazi.
@timbray
I've followed your lead:
1. Leave Twitter account as is
2. Delete Twitter app from phone
3. Leave alt-right troll behind
I feel a sense of liberation already 💙🤘
@timbray HN has been very weird about the elon / twitter thing. they are mostly like "lets see how it plays out", meanwhile elon is out there tweeting obvious nazi dog-whistles
@jim @timbray I think this is a very good piece, but I will say that despite being a Mastodon fanatic, I do think this part is a little unfair to Anti Software Software Club (cohost), who are an effectively donation-funded*, explicitly anti-VC worker-owned company who intentionally omitted algorithms and engagement-maximising metrics from their platform design and don't seem all that concerned with making a profit.
Other than that, I 100% agree in pretty much every way :)
(* technically, they're subscription-funded, with cohost Plus!, but IIRC the subscriptions don't actually get you anything right now)
@timbray Ok. Here are a few:
1. We have populations now that can't/won't join Mastodon because of the differing attitudes towards content warnings and the aggressive nature of the enforcement. What about those populations? How is this solvable in a federated world where every server can and does make up its own rules?
@timbray I love it. When I go, I think I'll post a press release there, outlining the decision and urging advertisers to follow suit.
@sogrady Good questions! Was about to start answering them when it occurred to me that this dialogue deserves long-form home. By default, I'll just turn them into an ongoing piece but is there a scope for a podcast or some other mode?
@timbray hmm…not sure? @bcantrill is another Mastodon believer and used to host Oxide Twitter Spaces on that platform, so assuming they’ve come up a new platform, maybe there?
otherwise, long form will do. i probably should have gone that route myself, in fact.
@sogrady @timbray All true: I am another Mastodon believer, and @ahl and I have indeed left Twitter Spaces. After some toying around last week, Discord is going to be our new home for the @oxidecomputer and Friends podcast.
Our first Discord is going to be tomorrow -- and we would absolutely love to host a discussion on @timbray's piece (which, unsurprisingly, nails it). Let us know if you're up for it!
@timbray @sogrady @ahl @oxidecomputer We have done them at 5p Pacific (and occasionally at 9a Pacific to give Europe a shot to participate). We record them and turn it into a podcast:
@bcantrill @sogrady @ahl @oxidecomputer
So 5PM Pacific tomorrow Nov 28? Someone shoot me a Discord link and I'll drop by.
@timbray @bcantrill @ahl @oxidecomputer i’m at reinvent and tied up, but will listen to the recording with interest
@sogrady @timbray @ahl @oxidecomputer Send or DM your questions for Tim? Failing that, I will do my best to proxy the concerns you've already expressed...
@timbray
One of many good arguments for "leaving Twitter". I'm still in, but there are many reasons to leave. Then again, there are many reasons to "leave the church", and yet I don't say I've left.
Hoo boy, just totally screwed up my discord by logging in with the wrong email, now my phone is blocked. With any luck I'll be back on the air by tomorrow…
@timbray 🤣 The good news is that Discord is teenage gamer proof -- the bad news is that you don't get there by assuming positive intent! 😉
"An instance isn’t just a server with some software on it. It can be a neighborhoood, a faculty, a rock band, an employer, a religion, a lawn-bowling club. But there’ll also be general-purpose instances for anyone who just wants to talk."
- @timbray
https://mastodon.cloud/@timbray/109413314263633965
Well done cause staying to "fight" isn't fighting, if anything it's endorsing what twitter is now as it's just increasing metrics for musk to show investors/advertisers so he can claim success.
@timbray @ianbetteridge @emma you can also download a list of advertisers that Twitter shares your data with mine ran to about 3000. I received that a few days after requesting it. Took nearly a week to get my tweet archive.
@timbray I appreciate your post and your suggestions on how to depart Twitter.
Whenever I boost a Post, it seems as if I am the only one to respond. Though that can't be. (It's soooo quiet on here)
I suppose that cuts down on knee-jerk reposting. Can't say.
@clairep Thanks! It's not clear to what extent you get to see boosts from other people. Anyhow, that article got plenty of traffic.
@timbray I love this quote “I mean, living through the sharp edge of what might turn out to be a social-media inflection point.”