A reminder of the phrase: "perfect is the enemy of good." To cite Mastodon as a genuine alternative to Twitter and Bluesky is not to say that Mastodon is perfect. That should go without saying. Everything can be scrutinised and critiqued and improved on. But that's not the purpose or point of these posts - the point is, you can't improve something built on bad intentions and compromised foundations like Bluesky is. Let's bring those places down while building these places up.

I guess my point here is, it's not a "platform" when no one can hear you. I have half that number of followers here on Mastodon and yet I'm heard but - more important than that - I listen. I take in posts by people wiser than myself, and/or at least with different backgrounds and experiences to myself, who I learn so very much from. Mastodon (more specifically, Todon) makes that possible for me. It brings out the best.

Us "mere mortals," meanwhile, love this shit: I had over 3,000 followers on pre-Elon Musk Twitter, and by that point there was, well, no point: the ads and algorithms had long since pushed my tweets aside in favour of whatever normies had trending, and - in the absence of any decent code of conduct - the space was becoming unbearably bot-ridden at best and toxic at worst.

Repackaged Twitter (Bluesky) will suffer the same fate as original Twitter (X). Or possibly even worse. I'm not wrong. Feel free to save this toot, idgaf.

We never needed to waste time trying to reinvent the wheel. We had Mastodon. We had something right in front of us, all along, and too many of us decided to look away at the other options, either pretending we couldn't see this, or pretending we didn't understand this. But fundamentally, truly decentralised and de-commercialised social media will always be eclipsed by commercial interests until we - all of us - are prepared to make better choices based on better principles rather than herd mentality. I for one am not going back. Not to Twitter 1.0...or Twitter 2.0. That shit ain't it.

Seriously, though: Many of us told you so. Many of us told you when we joined Mastodon shortly after its launch, and we told you again as we quit Twitter after Elon Musk bought it. You went back then, so why would we believe you now? Because this time you're wholeheartedly endorsing Twitter 2.0: crypto-Bluesky? The cycle will just continue, and celebrity culture and ego will be our fucking ruin.

So it seems a heck of a lot of high-profile folks are suddenly deciding to leave Elon Musk's Nazi platform. Again. But hey don't worry, they really mean it this time! And Twitter 2.0, Bluesky, is so very special (the cryptobros said so!) and while its appeal is that it emulates Twitter 1.0, it is totally immune to the fate of Twitter 1.0. Right? And remember: that Mastodon stuff is confusing, and its lack of ads and algorithms make everyone seem more on an equal footing, with celebrity profiles treated as just another account. And who wants that, huh?

Mozilla Foundation lays off 30% of its employees, ends advocacy for open web, privacy, and more https://www.osnews.com/story/141100/mozilla-foundation-lays-off-30-of-its-employees-ends-advocacy-for-open-web-privacy-and-more/

In Dearborn, Rashida Tlaib Did Nearly Twice as Well as Kamala Harris https://theintercept.com/2024/11/06/dearborn-michigan-rashida-tlaib-kamala-harris-gaza/

According to numbers so far, it seems around 3/4 of the United States population didn't vote for Donald Trump. Not enough people seem to want to talk about that.

"There is real shock among the Democrats in Washington, DC. So far, the most vocal commentary is from the progressive side of the Democratic party, saying 'we told you so.' The established Democratic party is probably not getting much sleep now, trying to figure out what they’re going to say. The polls have been clear: voters want change. When Harris was asked what she would do differently from Biden, she said she couldn’t really think of anything. But many people feel left behind by the neo-liberal US economy and they don’t like the foreign policy of the Biden administration. The question now is whether the Democratic party will look inwards and have a reckoning, or blame young people, poor people, Latinos, young men, you name it." https://aje.io/r2pf93?update=3304259

Don’t Doom Scroll, Organize: How to Get Active in the Current Terrain https://itsgoingdown.org/dont-doom-scroll-organize-how-to-get-active-in-the-current-terrain/

Crowd hurls mud and insults at Spain royals, PM on visit to flood-hit town https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/3/crowd-hurls-mud-and-insults-at-spain-royals-pm-on-visit-to-flood-hit-town

Over 100 staff accuse BBC of bias in coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/2/over-100-staff-accuse-bbc-of-bias-in-its-coverage-of-israels-war-in-gaza

It's very sad but not entirely shocking that #RadioFreeFedi is closing down; the writing was on the wall for a while and the folks behind it were overwhelmed. I'm hoping they will take care and take pride in the immense achievement it was, with an absolutely amazing run. But still, I'm also realising, "Shit, with no 'comfy channel' from Radio Free Fedi, what the hell am I going to be woken up to by my RadioDroid alarm in the morning?!" I don't want to go back to grim monotonous standard phone alarms!" Radio Free Fedi ruined me for that (and I'm grateful!)

"I Became an Anarchist While Working for the Democratic Party." A critical and personal account of working inside of and attempting to organize within the Democratic Party in Nevada: https://itsgoingdown.org/became-anarchist-working-democratic-party/

Human Rights Watch accuses Meta of silencing pro-Palestine voices amid increased social media censorship since October 7: https://www.aljazeera.com/podcasts/2024/10/24/the-take-uncovering-metas-censorship-policies-on-palestine

Netflix Wipes Most “Palestinian Stories,” Erases Collection in Israel https://theintercept.com/2024/10/25/netflix-palestinian-stories-israel-movies/

Mainstream Media Was Afraid to Compare Trump to Hitler. Now the Press Has No Excuse. https://theintercept.com/2024/10/25/trump-hitler-john-kelly-medi/

Escalation in Chiapas: Priest assassinated, attacks on Zapatista communities https://freedomnews.org.uk/2024/10/24/escalation-in-chiapas-priest-assassinated-attacks-on-zapatista-communities/