November 23, 2022

"The social media network known as Mastodon is sort of an anti-Twitter: quiet, calm, and refreshingly free of Nazis."

"People have been flocking to it lately, only to get confused by the way it’s set up—which is a shame, because it’s not that hard to get started. Here’s how."

I'm reading "How to Move From Twitter to Mastodon/There are many similarities between the two—except that Mastodon feels like a nice place to be" (lifehacker). 

I'm reading that because I wanted to take a look at something I've heard about a lot lately, but — as it says above — I got confused. I had to find an article explaining it.

I'm confused by this article too. How can a speech forum have a mood as specific as quiet and calm? And what kind of dolt feels "refreshed" by a feeling that a place is "free of Nazis"? I would expect Nazis — especially dangerous Nazis — to lull people into "not see"ing them (until it's too late). You know those old movies where somebody would say "It's quiet. Too quiet." It's like that, I would think. If you're saying "It's refreshingly free of Nazis," you ought to go on to say "Too refreshingly free of Nazis." 

And what's this "Mastodon feels like a nice place to be"? Yeah, feels like.

Lifehacker proceeds to help us with our confusion by trying — trying — to talk to us as though we are easily triggered by anything that sounds disconnected from a simple, off-screen life:

Whereas Twitter is a single huge corporate entity, Mastodon is more like a bunch of local mom-and-pop shops. That means you need to choose an “instance”—a server you’ll call home.

You're trying to soothe me into absorbing a technical description, and you're telling me I need to call something "home" that you're calling an "instance." Just tell me there's something called an "instance" and what it is. And don't drag in mom-and-pop shops. Are we going shopping or going home? Neither. We're having an "instance." Look, I was attracted by the "mastodon," which is a cute extinct animal. There are no Ice Ace behemoths in this Bedford Falls you've got me imagining. And I am more and more alienated from this nice, quiet, Nazi-free place.

It’s like how you can choose to keep your money at your local bank or credit union, but your money is still good everywhere....

Another analogy! Now it's about money. My eyes glaze over. I don't want to understand it. I just want to do it. I'll skip ahead to what I'd see if I did get on this thing:

[Y]our instance also has two special timelines: The local timeline is a stream of everybody tweeting from that instance. So if I click there, I see everything that’s going on on wandering.shop. It’s like listening in on everybody in your neighborhood.

It's like Mr. Rogers is explaining this... but he's not helping. And in real life, "listening in on everybody in your neighborhood" is not nice. It's quite wrong. But I know they don't mean "listening in." They just mean reading things people have written and posted.

The federated timeline...

Federated! I don't get niceness vibes from "federated." Is this for people with warm feelings toward the federal government?

... is everything on the local timeline, plus everybody who is followed by someone on your instance. So if I follow Nick, his toots (yep, they’re called toots) will show up in wandering.shop’s federated timeline.

They're only called "toots" if people call them "toots," and I doubt that people will do that. The writer of this article already wrote about "a stream of everybody tweeting from that instance."

A few terms to help ease your transition from Twitter: It’s not a tweet, it’s a toot. It’s not a retweet, it’s a boost. There is no such thing as a quote-tweet, you just either boost or you don’t. Twitter itself is referred to as “the birdsite.” Do not bring birdsite drama onto Mastodon....

Who is telling use what we can do or not do and what words we need to use? Is my question dramatic and birdsite-y? I feel unwanted at Mastodon. It feels inclusive and exclusive simultaneously. How will this rule of niceness be enforced? With niceness? 

First, this is not Twitter. Each instance has its own administrator and its own code of conduct, so make sure you read up before you toot.

So I have to pick an "instance" to start, but each instance has a different code. How many codes should I read before I pick? But reading the code wouldn't be enough, because I wouldn't know how the code is interpreted and enforced. I see that one instance has a code that says (in part):

The following types of content will be removed from the public timeline, and may result in account suspension and revocation of access to the service: Racism or advocation of racism/Sexism or advocation of sexism/Discrimination against gender and sexual minorities, or advocation thereof/Xenophobic and/or violent nationalism....

I'm required to understand a word that isn't even a word: "advocation." Plus, of course, I don't know what will count as "racism" or "sexism." It could be quite broad or idiosyncratic. One person's feminism is another person's sexism. And, for some people, racism is structured into everything and operates covertly, like those clever Nazis I was just talking about.

I quit. I quoot.

103 comments:

rhhardin said...

Toot, in context, means fart. Twitter avoided it.

rhhardin said...

What do you get if you feed beans to a Mastodon? Toots.

MayBee said...

" in this Bedford Falls you've got me imagining."

Althouse, you really crack me up

rehajm said...

Outside of dopamine squirts the primary reason for lefties to go on Twitter is influence. They need the Nazis to be there.

Larry Tribe’s gonna hate it…

Heartless Aztec said...

The further down the time line I get from My Space the more I'm just over it all. Facebook has turned into a trash app, Mastodon has the extinct vibe going on and all I really want to do is read a sharp, witty and well written blog post - Matt, Glenn and Ann by way of examples.

Robert Marshall said...

Mastadon: for when you want no Nazis, so you set it up like the Stasi. Got it.

rhhardin said...

Peter Sellers, the Instance scene
Pink Panther

Rocketeer said...

One thing you can say about The Birdsite: it’s easy to use.

I can’t be bothered with any social media site that requires an explainer.

tim maguire said...

It's not a tweet, it's a toot, it's not a retweet, it's a boost.

See? We have different words for the same actions! We're so different! A place where you are free to be who you are so long as you are exactly like us! There's no Nazis because we obey all the rules!

It's not Nazis or mom and pop or the bank, it's invasion of the body snatchers.

tim maguire said...

If there were an edit function, I might say Valley of the Dolls instead. But Invasion of the Body Snatchers works well enough.

Enigma said...

Let's all welcome the left to the experience of "wrong thinkers" and the right over the last few years as they inhabited Rumble, Gab, Parler, etc. Those sites feel like a neighborhood because they are (1) small to tiny, and (2) they self-select for like-minded people. Think narrow clubs rather than a general broadcasting platform or place for debate. Self-awareness arose among Twitter users only when forced by Musk. A la Descartes "I Tweet, therefore I am."


It's nice to hear there are no Nazis among Mastadon's likely herds of Stalinists and Maoists. Pick your poison: death by gas chamber, death by being frozen in Siberia, or death after sterilization in a prison camp.

rwnutjob said...

Reports I get say it is many of the Karen cat-lady Leftists who left Twitter (the ones that actually did, vs. those announcing their impending departure like an airport) taking each other to task for not being woke enough

Meade said...

It’s quoot in here. Too quoot.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Channeling Randolph Scott... It's A Trap!

policraticus said...

"Tooting?!" That is a well known euphemism for flatulence, is it not? Ahh, but then I see that "flatulence" can also characterize, "inflated or pretentious speech or writing," so maybe it is apropos after all.

Wilbur said...

Just a soft sell in furtherance of someone trying to make a buck.

Dave Begley said...

My liberal activist brother joined Mastodon. “Free of Nazis” means no conservatives. I’m guessing that there is a way to cancel people and censor dangerous thoughts. For the Left, hate speech is anything that they disagree with.

The main idea here is to bankrupt Twitter because Free Speech and Elon Musk are a threat to their world.

It can’t be said enough: These people are crazy and they don’t even know it. Free Speech is essential to the survival of our Republic.

MikeR said...

Huh, that's odd. I'm seeing various posts and articles on how Mastodon turns out to be a bastion of angry humorless "hall monitors" (Nate Silver) who ban you for whatever they don't like. Be sure you pick an "instance" of people who agree with you on everything.
Pass.

tim in vermont said...

I would expect Nazis — especially dangerous Nazis — to lull people into "not see"ing them (until it's too late).

Speaking of "not sees," the government of Canada has refused to identify the person flying the Nazi flag in Ottawa on "national security" grounds. I guess it's the same reason that the FBI won't talk about the agents dressed as Trump supporters in the Capitol on J6.

michaele said...

This is what you were born for...your most special talent...using words to fillet and lay open the words of others.

Kevin said...

"The social media network known as Mastodon is sort of an anti-Twitter: quiet, calm, and refreshingly free of Nazis."

Sounds like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

rastajenk said...

Regarding social media: Quoot the Raven...Nevermore

Dave Begley said...

Another classic Althouse beatdown. But in a nice way.

gilbar said...

i keep Forgetting.. What constitutes a "nazi" ? That just means, a republican; right?

Temujin said...

Whenever I cannot quoot, I always reach for the Dulcolax. Or as we call it on Mastodon, The Gentle Mover.

I've been reading about Journalists! wanting other Journalists! to group together on Mastodon, a post JournOlist sort of, well...JournOlist. The entire activity that got them their 6% approval rating among the public is what they're trying to recreate on Mastodon.

God Forbid they should mingle with the dirty people and their dirty thoughts. Having to explain themselves and all. Ugh. Better to live peacefully among the other rutabagas.

Also- I'm starting to wonder what actual Nazis would think if actual Nazis- I mean the ones from 1940 Germany, not the home brewed idiots hanging out in Idaho or Michigan- came back and saw who was passing for Nazis today. Even they'd be embarrassed at how ridiculously their names are being tossed about.

In the meantime, Musk has big plans for Twitter. And I'm even considering signing up. I signed up once, years ago when it first came out, and immediately deleted my account knowing it'd be a massive CF and time suck. Well...I'm retired now and might just have to dip my toe into it now that Musk is working on it.

The Vault Dweller said...

I would have joined if their messages were called something cool like tusks, or maybe if a message gets a lot of attention and retusks it was called a trampling.

Rory said...

If you hear a mastadon toot above you, don't look up.

Breezy said...

I’m still trying to figure out how the people who cancel people are NOT the Nazis….

Amadeus 48 said...

"Speaking of 'not sees,' the government of Canada has refused to identify the person flying the Nazi flag in Ottawa on 'national security' grounds."

Fidel Jr. Trudeau beat that Nazi flag like a drum as he was removing Canadians' civil rights over the trucking convoy.

Of course...his agents did it.

n.n said...

Free of Nazis implies no Diversity [dogma] [Inequity, and Exclusion] (DIE) doctrine, no abortion chambers ("cancellation"), no [slave] labor camps, no Mengele mandates and practices, no environmentalism and other socialized rackets, and the people are armed and self-moderating.

Howard said...

Mastodon sounds like it's heading to extinction.

narciso said...

They dont suffer fools theres your sign

Bob Boyd said...

People don't really want quiet, calm and refreshing. That's just a pose. They want "nazis" on there because "nazi" just means someone it's okay to hate. People want to feel self-righteous and outraged and to feel justified in being as nasty as possible to someone without any real consequences.
There are plenty of calm, quiet refreshing places on the internet if that's what you really want. People are on twitter because they like it.

So did mastodons trumpet like elephants? And could that trumpeting really be said to have consisted of a series of toots? Ridiculous.

tim in vermont said...

I tried to watch that YouTube lin, only to have an ad blasted at me, I just don't use YouTube anymore, I rarely use Google, I use Rumble for video, and pick a non google search engine at random.

n.n said...

It's because he's African-American, a Person of Color (i.e. not albino), right? Now that Musk is CEO, is anti-Twitterism a subset of [rabid] diversitism (e.g. racism, sexism, ageism)?

"The social media network known as Mastodon is sort of an anti-Twitter: quiet, calm, and refreshingly free of Nazis."

Sounds like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.


Not "over", but rather "into".

JPS said...

"refreshingly free of Nazis."

The society I live in is refreshingly free of Nazis. (Not 100%, but I've only ever seen one guy wearing a swastika tattoo, and the mostly black people he was trolling with it ignored him because he was obviously an attention-seeking loser.) So if you need to convince yourself you are fighting the ultimate good fight, you may be tempted to define them a bit more expansively. Let's see:

"Racism or advocation of racism/Sexism or advocation of sexism/Discrimination against gender and sexual minorities, or advocation thereof/Xenophobic and/or violent nationalism."

Yeah, I'm against all those things too. But I'm going to guess that with one quote from Thomas Sowell on racism, Camille Paglia on gender and sexual minorities, or Cesar Chavez on immigration, I'd get stamped Nazi and cast out.

Bob Boyd said...

Do employees have wine on tap at Mastodon?
Can we see pictures of the employees to see if there are enough women in the mix?

Leland said...

What I've learned from the Mastodon story is that Journolist or rather Journa.host is back. However, like any new instances free of nazis, they are going Lord of the Flies over there to determine pecking order. Adam Davidson and Parker Molloy are trading bannings and transphobic insults. Karen Tumulty and Max Boot can't figure out how to login so have announced giving up trying to fit in and will try somewhere else, because that's on message for them.

DanTheMan said...

"Nazis".... the lefty shorthand for "people who disagree with me".

wendybar said...

This is why we point and laugh at the ignorant woke.

Lilly, a dog said...

What fun is Mastodon if you can't toot a racism in a federated timeline?

MikeR said...

'And what kind of dolt feels "refreshed" by a feeling that a place is "free of Nazis"?' Obviously, someone who sees Nazis under the bed and in the closet.

MikeR said...

That said, it sounds like a hopeful development. Buh-bye, hall monitors!

Sean said...

Thank you Ann for your Dave Barry'esq (or perhaps Lileks?) discussion of this article. A nice chuckle for my morning.

It is curious why the article had so much obfuscation for a simple how to. A real tough sell.

gilbar said...

is The Real Reason why journalists are flocking to Mastodon, because they are child porn pervs?
Mastodon is big in Japan. The reason why is… uncomfortable

In the US, we have a strong taboo about sexualized imagery of children. People who are interested in sexualized imagery of children — whether it’s explicit photography or idealized drawings — are considered pedophiles, and the material they seek out is termed child pornography..
In Japan, Lolicon, which includes animated cartoons and 2D drawings of young men and women in a way that is undeniably sexualized, sometimes through explicit depictions of sexual acts, is legal, widespread and significantly accepted..
Japanese users had been looking for a Twitter-like platform where they could share lolicon writing and imagery for some time. They’d used earlier, less-user friendly decentralized social networks, and when Mastodon came around, they flocked to it.


is gilbar saying, that journalists are the sort of people, that would build a "kid friendly" pizza place, that would have all ages gay rock shows; and encourage those "kids" to become sexually active? Well, Let's just say, gilbar wants them to deny it

Wince said...

It’s not a tweet, it’s a toot. It’s not a retweet, it’s a boost.

For Mastodon, they should have chosen different terms.

It's not a tweet, it's a masturbation. It's not a retweet, it's a mastication.

"Operat[ing] covertly, like those clever Nazis:" pseudogynecomastadon!

Kate said...

"Someone's tooting!" A hand pats the toddler's diaper butt.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

It’s quiet because nobody’s there. And the few that are are forced into conformist neighborhoods (instances) where arbitrarily enforced rules dictate what you can and can’t say. It’s more Stepford than Bedford.

And if ANYONE on your instance breaks ANOTHER instance’s rules, your entire instance can be banned over there. Instead of Twitter’s one Home Owners Association, let a million HOAs grow.

wildswan said...

I sing the song of Mastodon
Gentle, quiet, Nazi-free;
I sing the song of Mastodon,
They all think like me.
And I am right and they are right
And happy then are we,
Singing in sameness
Far from Twitter, and farther still
From yearning to breathe free.

wendybar said...

I wish Progressives would wall themselves away from the rest of us Nazi's in California, and leave us the HELL alone. Nobody wants THEM around to try to rule our lives according to their beliefs and emotions. Go away. I'm glad they are going to Mastadon, because I am loving Elon on twitter and it is glorious not to see the hate spewing out from the hateful left. I'm enjoying it so much, I may have to join!!

mikee said...

Nazi is a term undergoing devaluation, much like racist and sexist did in years past. "Mitch McConnell is a confirmed Nazi," for example, just does not meet a reasonable person's test of sane speech.

I like Antifa's saying, "See a Nazi, punch a Nazi." It correlates with my saying, "See a commie, kill a commie." Fair is fair, after all.

Ann Althouse said...

And when you delete a post, it's a mastectomy.

wildswan said...

A flock of birds
A gaggle of geese
An instance of Karen's (for example, Mastodon)

Humperdink said...

The liberal S&W revolver is filling up the cylinder: racist, homophobe, transphobe, bigot, misogynist, white supremacist, and now Nazi. The model 617 has a ten round capacity so the left on the prowl for a few more. Beware when semi-auto comes to market.

n.n said...

And when you delete a post, it's a mastectomy.

Assuming non-trivial content, more of a lobotomy.

I like Antifa's saying, "See a Nazi, punch a Nazi." It correlates with my saying, "See a commie, kill a commie." Fair is fair, after all.

Either punch or abort a Nazi or punch or abort a commie and you get a two for one (same orientation), and an [anti]fascist, equitable and inclusive. That said, #NoJudgment #NoLabels #Pro-Choice

Bob Boyd said...

Tootin' ain't easy.

Harold said...

Does it have a post character limit? If so why? As I recall the reason for the original twitter character limit was because that was the maximum size of an SMS message. When the original reason for it went away and twitter expanded the post limit there people bitched that the platform was ruined.

Michael P said...

"Do not bring birdsite drama onto Mastodon."

Do not bring extinct-proboscidean-protocol drama into the blogosphere!

The extinct proboscidean protocol is for immediate loading and unloading of toots only. There is no boosting in the birdsite. (Later) The birdsite is for immediate loading and unloading of twits only. There is no re-tooting in the extinct proboscidean protocol.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Do you have to be a biologist to join Mastodon?

An evolutionary biologist?

If they do, it means they’re keeping out at least one SCOTUS Justice.

Making Mastodon a racist Nazi hangout.

John Borell said...

I'm very tech savvy. I went to Mastodon to see what it was about and gave up after five minutes of indecision as to what "instance" to sign up for.

Journalists can all go over there, fine, but if I gave up, no "regular" person is going to join, let alone, use, Mastodon.

Prediction: in a month, no one will be talking about Mastodon.

Bill R said...

"Too refreshingly free of Nazis."

Excellent!

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

If they are not hiring all the fired Twitter employees then what was all the noise about not being able to run a social media site without them? Gee it’s like they don’t even believe the shit they say!

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

“Birdsite” has all the childish élan of the antipathy to saying Trump out loud. Superstition is a way of life when you’re hiding out in an “instance” quaking with nazi fear.

John henry said...

I've been on and off Mastodon for 8 years or so. Originally because I like the idea of an open source Twitter. Since then mainly to follow people or topics that for one reason or another are not on Twitter of elsewhere. I've not used it for several years until a couple weeks ago. More on that later.

Unless you want to set up your own instance, which is not hard to do, Mastodon is no more difficult that Twitter to use.

One thing that appeals to me is that Mastodon is an absolute free speech platform. Even more so than Gab, Gettr, Parler and others. There are no rules at all. If someone starts an instance called "Mao was right, 80mm is a good start, let's finish the job" there is nobody who can stop them. Mainly because there is nobody in charge at Mastodon. Most instances will not federate with them. That still doesn't stop anyone in the Instance from seeing the toots. But only if hey want to see them.

Wait till those Karens figure this out.

Worst of all, horror of horrors! Our President Emeritus's platform Truth.social, is a Mastodon server.

John Henry

John henry said...

Adam Davidson started a Mastodon Instance called journa.host for all the journos who can't stand to be on a site that allows President Trump. It is, supposedly, open to all journalists, checkmarked or not, famous or not, lots of followers or few and so on.

I've been a tech journalist for more than 20 years so I signed up on a Friday night. I was accepted and welcomed but did not post anything. Less than 12 hours later I signed in to see what was going on. I was greeted with a message that my account had been cancelled. Not suspended, cancelled. There is an appeal process so I appealed asking why I had been cancelled. No reply other than to say my appeal had been received.

I DMd Adam Davidson. No reply

I posted replies to Adams' tweets about Journa.host. No reply or response.

I sent an email to the Journa.host administrator. No response.

I am an outcast!

I am wondering if it is because in my profile I put MAGA Supporter?

So much for open journalism. Apparently it is only open if you have drunk the right colored Koolade. I drink the orange stuff. Journa.host members apparently must drink the blue.

John Henry

stlcdr said...

A a technical person trying to explain something technical to a non-technical person - mostly managers - I’ll use twee mom and pop metaphors/synonyms. Whatever gives them a feeling of understanding.

John henry said...

Blogger Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

If they are not hiring all the fired Twitter employees then what was all the noise about not being able to run a social media site without them? Gee it’s like they don’t even believe the shit they say!

A few Twitter employees have been fired for various specific reasons, "for cause". My guess is fewer than 100, it that.

A number were giving a sweet offer to voluntarily resign, 10 days ago.

But the big number, the 3-4m we first heard about have not been fired or even laid off. They are still Twitter employees (legally) drawing all salary and benefits. They have just been told to stay out of Twitter.

Effective in February, they will be laid off.

Until then, with the exceptions noted, nobody has been fired or laid off at Twitter.

Do you know how many employees Mastodon has? 7

John Henry

Anthony said...

Sounds like they're regressing back to the ol' bbs days. . . . .

rastajenk said...

Bob Boyd said...
Tootin' ain't easy.

11/23/22, 8:07 AM
Sez who?

Big Mike said...

So, in short, Mastodon is a tool for setting up bubbles and enforcing them. Only cool kids allowed!

Joe Smith said...

Cracks me up how the left is 'so strong' and yet can't handle people typing words that don't agree with their world-view.

And for the record, there are maybe a couple of hundred 'Nazis' left on earth, and they are the cosplay kind, not the real kind.

And they learned about hating/killing blacks and Jews from Southern Democrats.

n.n said...

Instances? Objects? The verbs will be curated. The pronouns will be strictly enforced. And there will be abortions... cancellations, with our without cause in the modern model.

Lurker21 said...

Wikipedia tells us that Mastodon has already given up on "toots" and just calls them "posts" now. It took me a while to figure it out, but if you think of a mastodon as an ancient elephant, then it "toots" or "trumpets" when it makes noise.

Mastodon was created by someone in Germany (born in Russia), so even though it's "decentralized" it may help spread European speech codes around the world. You can be banned there for saying things that you can read here everyday. I don't know how it works if your toot/post is banned in Europe but permissible here. The various servers (instances?) will probably eventually all be on the same page, if they aren't already.

Trump's Truth Social supposedly uses code based on Mastodon. And that reminds us that with the rise of Mastodon public opinion is now further separating and self-segregating. Information doesn't want to be free. Opinion really wants to be segregated.

Levi Starks said...

A place that feels like it’s free of Nazis is likely run by Nazis.

Original Mike said...

I must say, it is amusing watching the "liberals" freak out because they don't control the censorship on Twitter anymore.

Wa St Blogger said...

And when you delete a post, it's a mastectomy.

Althouse wins her own thread.

Bob Boyd said...

Sez who?

Our hostess.

rcocean said...

Free of Nazis = free of 70 million Trump supporters. Yeah, "Advocation" is that like Avocation but with sexism and racism?

Mastadon is just a distraction. The real plan is to take out Twitter. The left is already pressuring big corporation to stop advertising on Twitter, and is that doesn't work, Apple and google will be pressured into "Deplatorming" twitter from their App Play stores. And I hope Musk has own servers, because if not, Jeff Bezos may shut them down.

Yoel Roth, the former "Trust and safety" twitter commissar has laid out the plan in the NYT's. If none of the above works, foreign countries who don't believe in our "quaint first admendment" will start attacking Twitter.

And always remember: give quoot, don't pollute.

rcocean said...

Bob wright had something on Mastadon, I didn't watch it, and it looks like no else did.

Wa St Blogger said...

The problem with the idea that you can be free of undesirable content is that with any group of people, you will discover just about everyone has a different take on at least of the 300 (made that number up) or so controversial issues that exist today, and any unnumbered heretofore undiscovered controversial issues in the future. Thus in community monitored controlled by someone setting the rules of conduct based on their own set of values, it will be impossible for the rest of the community to adhere precisely. As Althouse correctly identifies, what does sexism, racism, transphobia mean, precisely? Eventually you will either devolve into a platform where the hosts is the only tooter, and everyone else simply boosts those toots with appropriate supporting sycophantic commentary, or there will be almost no one active in the instance.

An instance is probably not much different than Althouse blog in that the moderator will have to spend a lot of time curating toots to keep the riffraff out. The advantage is that they can control who gets in in the first place and the disadvantage is that they can't control the topics except after the fact.

Freeman Hunt said...

Given that different people can have the same username but associated with different groups, I don't see it taking off.

JK Brown said...

Wait, I thought people separating into their own "echo chambers" was the argument against developing a different Twitter-like service to avoid Twitter's censorship? Now, not only is there this most-favored new service, but it is designed with red-lining, covenants and hall-monitors to segregate the users into many confusing "instances". And what if you "follow" someone in another instance, but they "toot" something that stinks to high heaven in your small "town" but is perfectly acceptable in their more liberal "instance"?

Paddy O said...

"Federate"

Even after all this time, my first thought was the old Federated electronics stores.

Will Cate said...

If I was you I'd add the "civility bullshit" tag to this post.

Jason said...

In other news, America's dumbest, most hysterical idiots continue to demonstrate their unerring knack for reliably identifying 968,895 out of the last five actual Nazis.

gadfly said...

So "its a beautiful place in the [Mastadon] neighborhood" because someone nicknamed "lifehacker" thinks that it is. No crime there.

But it is a crime for the richest man in the world to refuse to pay Twitter vendors. Let's turn our attention to Elmo, the Chief Twit.

Roger Sweeny said...

Different instances with different standards. It makes me think of old Supreme Court obscenity decisions.

MikeR said...

"And when you delete a post, it's a mastectomy." Well done, well done. But you can't delete a post on Mastodon: elephants never forget.

Joe Smith said...

Free of Nazis but full of Democrats.

Not possible, they're the same thing...

Michael K said...

But it is a crime for the richest man in the world to refuse to pay Twitter vendors. Let's turn our attention to Elmo, the Chief Twit.

I assume you have a link for this accusation. Or is it your usual bullshit?

hombre said...

The Heritage Foundation sent me a survey recently. One of the questions asked how I would define the Democrats in one word.

Finally, I decided on "demented." Others in the running were "incurious," "uninformed," "evil" and, of course, "stupid."

Static Ping said...

"The social media network known as Mastodon is sort of an anti-Twitter: quiet, calm, and refreshingly free of Nazis."

I am pretty sure that is not true, at all. The way I understand it, Mastodon pretty much does not care what you are discussing. Anyone can setup an instance and do whatever they want. And every other instance has the right to block your instance, if they do not want to deal with you, as the new journalist instance discovered when they found they were immediately blocked by dozens of other instances.

Furthermore, quiet and calm is dependent on who is in the instance. If the reports are accurate, the journalist instance quickly devolved into accusations and bannings almost immediately. The main problem with Twitter is the sort of people who are there, and moving them to a different app is not going to make them any less terrible. The only advantage Twitter had for these people is the corporate was on their side and willing to do the dirty work for them. With that gone, now they have to do it personally.

PM said...

"We're not tweeting, we're Mastodoning."

n.n said...

Free of Nazis but full of Democrats.

Not possible, they're the same thing...


Equitable and inclusive, NOW DIE.

JaimeRoberto said...

Posts should be called trumpets, but that would quickly be shortened to trumps, which would be problematic.

Josephbleau said...

“It’s like how you can choose to keep your money at your local bank or credit union, but your money is still good everywhere....“

Except when evil Mr. Musk steals the envelope of cash deposits from your uncle.

Darkisland said...

11/23/22, 11:56 AM
Michael K said...
But it is a crime for the richest man in the world to refuse to pay Twitter vendors. Let's turn our attention to Elmo, the Chief Twit.

I assume you have a link for this accusation. Or is it your usual bullshit?


Forget it Mike, it's crazytown. Same shit was spewed about Donald Trump not paying his contractors.

None were ever named except vaguely. Hillary mentioned an unidentified architect who may not have gotten fully paid for a clubhouse in some unspecified location. (trump claimed shoddy work as the reason.)

Don't expect any kind of useful link. Lies are all they have left at this point.

It would be easy to pull up the D&B page for Twitter and see if this is true. But it costs and I just don't care enough.

Any newspaper would have a subscription to check on there customers and suppliers. It would be easy for a repeater to do.

John Henry

MikeR said...

@Joe Smith "And for the record, there are maybe a couple of hundred 'Nazis' left on earth, and they are the cosplay kind, not the real kind." Well, you need to know where to look... https://twitter.com/DavideMastracci/status/1595447533777698817 https://twitter.com/SciTechJunkie/status/1594048960720764930

Joe Smith said...

'@Joe Smith "And for the record, there are maybe a couple of hundred 'Nazis' left on earth, and they are the cosplay kind, not the real kind." Well, you need to know where to look... https://twitter.com/DavideMastracci/status/1595447533777698817 https://twitter.com/SciTechJunkie/status/1594048960720764930'

It's cosplay.

Jews should arm themselves in any country...

Bunkypotatohead said...

The journolisters should just set up their own platform called Quitter, where they can queef to their hearts content.

Rusty said...

"But it is a crime for the richest man in the world to refuse to pay Twitter vendors. Let's turn our attention to Elmo, the Chief Twit."
I know you think you're being witty, but in reality you're being tedious and petty. Like a child. Not someone to be taken seriously.

Narayanan said...

@ Joe Smith said...
=========
so Latvia also has 'Nazi sympathetic history'.

what about Estonia and Lithuania and Nazis?

Jamie said...

But it is a crime for the richest man in the world to refuse to pay Twitter vendors.

What does being rich have to do with it? If the allegation is that Musk is breaking contracts, say so. But if he's acting within contractual agreements - for instance, withholding payment until or unless some condition is met - then that's obviously not "a crime." If he's slow-paying while he determines whether contractual obligations have been met, also not "a crime."

What's the crime?