Damn it, #Mastodon subculture has a crap reputation and it’s honestly mostly deserved.
-
@cyberlyra @jalcine Thank you for saying that. I appreciate it.
-
@damon @gothodile
Oh, the alt text is the thing I see most often when people complain about that they feel like it is an HOA. You can imagine I notice it more often because it is more relevant to me. -
@geos @gothodile ahh okay. Well, from what I’ve seen with the HOA fedi is more about telling people how to use their own accounts, having people CW their lived experiences. I like that this place and several of the decentralised social networks and platforms have started to place an emphasis on alt-text and on CW. But, CW should be a best practice and encouraged not something forced and especially not for people’s lived experiences.
-
-
@fivetonsflax @damon @NaClKnight
I've been surprised at how much some accounts are not plugged in to all of this as you'd expect. I'm talking about accounts that "advocate" for the fediverse/mastoodn and talk about it's virtues and what can be done to grow the place.
Then it turns out of they've never encountered this narrative/story.
It's surprising to me because I've encountered it many times from multiple accounts but never sought it out, AFAICT, it's right here for those who listen.
-
@damon Thats really sad to hear this, but I agree. My big issue here is that I am not sure what Mastodon (the software project) can do to change things, it looks like more of a Fediverse cultural issue than a Mastodon thing. I would be very happy to hear your ideas on what Mastodon (the software) should do to improve this, in a call if you want.
-
@damon On the whole, I can't confirm your statement. There may be individual cases. But as I said, in my neighbourhood people make an effort to be welcoming and friendly.
Secondly. The laws of digital social networks also apply in Fediverse.
-
@tunda You can confirm. You can speak with Black and Brown folks, you can search the web. If you want to call it individual cases that’s sad, that’s the same rhetoric that the radical right uses with mass shootings. But it makes sense because that stance either avoids accountability or at best narrows the scope significantly.
-
@juergen_hubert Thank you for doing so. It’s frustrating as people have many valid reasons and some of those reasons are outside of Mastodon. It’s really inconsiderate that people can’t even see that and get all up in arms and super judgmental about it.
-
@renchap I want to say I appreciate you reaching out. You could’ve simply continued to scroll and ignore my posts. I do want to be clear that I do not lay this all at the feet of the Mastodon software project but I do believe your team has a significant role to place as I would anyone that has considerable influence. I too would be more the happy to discuss this on a call. I appreciate your gesture and offer.
-
@damon You are postulating the same radicalism that you are supposedly criticising. Wouldn't you like to come up with Nazi comparisons immediately? Good bye.
-
@tunda That would be you. Look up those that looked the other way when Jews were being rounded up. Read about MLK views on the white liberal. Your stance is incredibly harmful and flawed. I’m not postulating any radicalism, but I guess you’d view that way because your little safe space is being challenged. You contribute nothing positively to this discussion and thanks for making yourself known so people especially minorities can steer clear of you and those like you.
-
@damon I’m on both platforms. Masto IS confusing. The obsession with CWs on even bring shit like photos of food is stupid.
But I also find Bluesky to be basically OG Twitter, the good and the bad. I’ve encountered so many toxic people over there. Social platforms are people, and there’s shit people everywhere. So many of them.
-
@damon the way I handle the Fediverse is that I just assume everyone is autistic as hell. It explains everything and lets me cut people some slack.
Also, I have an industrial strength filtered words list and an itchy mute finger.
-
@cferdinandi It’s interesting you say that about Bluesky as I’ve been there largely since the beginning, I think I was like the 3700 user, that wasn’t my experience. I’ve had a significantly tougher experience on fedi and seen some of the nastiest things I’ve ever seen on social media here. I’ve never blocked so many people on any platform. What has improved my experience is that I’m blocking over 1,000 domains and maybe 2000 plus users. I have also set up aggressive keyword filters. Bluesky more recently got keyword filters and I’ve set them up rather aggressively as well
-
@schizanon That’s actually a unique way to view things and would be beneficial. I have learned to set up insane keyword filters. I’m blocking thousands of domains and users. That has significantly improved my experience here.
-
@damon
It's really disappointing how vanilla it is here. I mean, it's a lot better than two years ago when the casual racism was inescapable, (and maybe that's down to huge block list and hashtag following), but while that's less common now, it's still just white people as far as the eye can see. #BlackTwitter/Brown Twitter are what made Twitter fun. What made things like #KHive important, and even powerful. What made #BlackLivesMatter work. Mastodon seems to deliberately want that stopped. -
@damon Even though that's not been my specific experience, I believe you when you say it's been yours, that its real, and that it's not just an isolated thing. I've heard similar stories from far too many of my friends (nearly all of them non-white).
And don't get me wrong! I don't think Mastodon is great either. I'm starting to feel like open social media in general nearly always falls prey to the worst kind of humans.
-
Chris Ferdinandi ⚓️replied to Chris Ferdinandi ⚓️ last edited by
@damon That said, I do see FAR more of my Black friends use Bluesky (or stay on Twitter). And Mastodon seems to completely lack the same kind of Black Twitter cultural touchstone that Twitter had (which is a tremendous loss for everyone).
This place is extremely white, and I think the HOA comparison is extremely apt.
-
Chris Ferdinandi ⚓️replied to Chris Ferdinandi ⚓️ last edited by
@damon One other thought: Bluesky is in a good place today, but I worry that in 5-10 years, market forces will drive it the same way as Twitter.
I DON'T think Mastodon is isolated from that just because each instance is separate, despite what fedi advocates say.