It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon(simonwillison.net)
simonwillison.net
It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon
https://simonwillison.net/2022/Nov/5/mastodon/
447 comments
'Twitter’s priorities are no longer even remotely aligned with my own.'
Since when were they? The mistake was perhaps to ever think that they were. It was twitters 'priority to sell themselves to Musk, hence why they took him to court to ensure he bought them.
This is a somewhat crazy, knee-jerk reaction to some news headlines, the author has no idea of what is really happening, i'm not saying that i do, but for example the post says that 'the entire accessibility team' has been laid off then points to a tweet about someone saying there team had been laid off, firstly there is no indication that this is the 'entire accessibility team', just that the team this person was head off, secondly, the author has no idea about twitters accessibility plans in the future, for example, accessibility could have been given an even higher priority and given to a more competent team. Now i know this is likely not the case, but the real thing, is basically we don't know.
To make a knee-jerk reaction to a bunch of assumptions is crazy.
Since when were they? The mistake was perhaps to ever think that they were. It was twitters 'priority to sell themselves to Musk, hence why they took him to court to ensure he bought them.
This is a somewhat crazy, knee-jerk reaction to some news headlines, the author has no idea of what is really happening, i'm not saying that i do, but for example the post says that 'the entire accessibility team' has been laid off then points to a tweet about someone saying there team had been laid off, firstly there is no indication that this is the 'entire accessibility team', just that the team this person was head off, secondly, the author has no idea about twitters accessibility plans in the future, for example, accessibility could have been given an even higher priority and given to a more competent team. Now i know this is likely not the case, but the real thing, is basically we don't know.
To make a knee-jerk reaction to a bunch of assumptions is crazy.
I find this hilarious. We all understand that the core reason some people might want to hurt twitter is because it is no longer going to follow the moderation policy that they liked (namely, silencing people with different political opinions). Yet, people can't name this reason honestly, and invent some other thin weiled excuses like 'layoffs are baaaad and unethical'.
Bold prediction: this influencer with 40k followers will find that ~40 of his followers have followed him to mastodon, and will be back quietly in a few months. Likely, after finding some reconciling excuse about Musk doing something good so he can be forgiven.
Bold prediction: this influencer with 40k followers will find that ~40 of his followers have followed him to mastodon, and will be back quietly in a few months. Likely, after finding some reconciling excuse about Musk doing something good so he can be forgiven.
I expect that the feature I’ll miss most from Twitter will be the algorithmic timeline!
(btw.: I'm not using Twitter (also not using Arch scnr))
It doesn't seem sensible to invest yourself so much into Mastodon without having thorougly explored it.
I too was fascinated with the fediverse, until I used it for more than a month and realized the people posting there were just as toxic and annoying as Twitters, not to mention the plenty of instances where the petty owners have made everything even worse
I too was fascinated with the fediverse, until I used it for more than a month and realized the people posting there were just as toxic and annoying as Twitters, not to mention the plenty of instances where the petty owners have made everything even worse
As someone who cares for a blind father, I can't stomach the decision to eliminate the accessibility team. I am myself moving to Mastodon. I was amazed in doing this that the UI/UX of Mastodon is much better than Twitter. I feel better.
Looks like this blew up on Hacker News right after I went to sleep.
I would encourage people to read the first paragraph more carefully:
> There are many terrible stories emerging about how this went down, but one that particularly struck me was that he laid off the entire accessibility team. For me this feels like a microcosm of the whole situation.
That's not me saying "I quit because he fired the accessibility team".
That's me saying "There are many terrible stories emerging about how this went down" as a shorthand for how this has been one of the worst-handled layoffs I've ever heard of in my industry - see https://twitter.com/gergelyorosz/status/1588517143490199552
And then "For me this feels like a microcosm of the whole situation." - I'm using the accessibility team here as a single representative instance of how I feel about the decisions Elon has been making, but I disagree with practically every other decision he has made in the last 8 days.
I'm sorry (OK, not sorry) I didn't write a detailed essay about the many reasons I was leaving Twitter.
The goal for my post was to talk about the things I was liking about Mastodon so far.
I'd also encourage people to read about the "trust thermocline", which really helped me understand why, at least for me, things were going downhill far too quickly to continue wanting to ride it out and see what happens: https://mastodon.social/@garius/109279394369832433
I would encourage people to read the first paragraph more carefully:
> There are many terrible stories emerging about how this went down, but one that particularly struck me was that he laid off the entire accessibility team. For me this feels like a microcosm of the whole situation.
That's not me saying "I quit because he fired the accessibility team".
That's me saying "There are many terrible stories emerging about how this went down" as a shorthand for how this has been one of the worst-handled layoffs I've ever heard of in my industry - see https://twitter.com/gergelyorosz/status/1588517143490199552
And then "For me this feels like a microcosm of the whole situation." - I'm using the accessibility team here as a single representative instance of how I feel about the decisions Elon has been making, but I disagree with practically every other decision he has made in the last 8 days.
I'm sorry (OK, not sorry) I didn't write a detailed essay about the many reasons I was leaving Twitter.
The goal for my post was to talk about the things I was liking about Mastodon so far.
I'd also encourage people to read about the "trust thermocline", which really helped me understand why, at least for me, things were going downhill far too quickly to continue wanting to ride it out and see what happens: https://mastodon.social/@garius/109279394369832433
I think it'd be great for more decentralized platforms to supplant centralized ones, but they usually seem to struggle to acquire more mainstream users. Even if Twitter collapses under Musk's leadership, my hunch is that a (new?) centralized competitor is more likely to take most of their market share, rather than Mastodon.
I know, I know, there's some obvious exceptions like email, or just the web in general, but it seems like usually decentralized platforms are at a disadvantage in terms of marketing to new users, explaining how they work, and the whole onboarding experience. The very fact that they can work in different ways to different people seems like a minus in terms of getting into the public consciousness.
I know, I know, there's some obvious exceptions like email, or just the web in general, but it seems like usually decentralized platforms are at a disadvantage in terms of marketing to new users, explaining how they work, and the whole onboarding experience. The very fact that they can work in different ways to different people seems like a minus in terms of getting into the public consciousness.
I don't see a valid reason to leave Twitter in his post. IMO laying off the accessibility team isn't a reason to leave. But, each to his own opinion.
The layoffs will have effect, but it doesn't have to be a bad one. Once they get leaner, they might have a clearer vison and know where to expand.
The layoffs will have effect, but it doesn't have to be a bad one. Once they get leaner, they might have a clearer vison and know where to expand.
I find it comedic whenever someone talks about how they're a truly longtime user of Twitter but they can't stomach staying on now that the owner doesn't share their values. Elon's values are extraordinarily similar to Jack's! If you were going to leave when someone's values diverged hard, you'd have left when Parag joined, because his did, and that's the entire reason Elon bought it! In reality it is some combination of personal association and public persona. And these are not the worst reasons to refuse to use a service, most of us have been guilty of the same at one point or another, but at least admit that that's why.
Uh, I don't know about Mastodon, can't judge about it, but I'm following your website's own RSS feed. Website + RSS feed does the job for me. And as long as you keep publishing a feed, I'm able to read your content just fine.
The web is already 'social media'!
Edit: oh, by the way, my homegrown newsreader only shows the first x amount of characters, so I always have to click through to your website if I want to read more.
The web is already 'social media'!
Edit: oh, by the way, my homegrown newsreader only shows the first x amount of characters, so I always have to click through to your website if I want to read more.
I respect their line of though, only because it is their own opinion. I know projects such as Orca and give real praise to all of them.
But to me, leaving Twitter because Musk fired the accessibility team does not seem like the best argument for leaving. If anything, it just sped up what was already happening (internally) even before Musk bought Twitter.
Accessibility becomes ‘real’ (though not perfect) thanks to a wide range of technologies that work together and respect certain patterns, not just due to the UI interface. This, assuming Twitter represents a big chunk of the real world, which I doubt, though it reaches a great proportion of it.
However, what is it to say that Twitrer’s accessibility will get worse, or that Musk will not hire even more capable people later? This is why I think the person left Twitter not only because Musk fired the accessibility team, but also because Twitter itself does not represent anymore the philosophy they believe in.
But to me, leaving Twitter because Musk fired the accessibility team does not seem like the best argument for leaving. If anything, it just sped up what was already happening (internally) even before Musk bought Twitter.
Accessibility becomes ‘real’ (though not perfect) thanks to a wide range of technologies that work together and respect certain patterns, not just due to the UI interface. This, assuming Twitter represents a big chunk of the real world, which I doubt, though it reaches a great proportion of it.
However, what is it to say that Twitrer’s accessibility will get worse, or that Musk will not hire even more capable people later? This is why I think the person left Twitter not only because Musk fired the accessibility team, but also because Twitter itself does not represent anymore the philosophy they believe in.
The same kind of posts happened when zuck changed the private policy of whatsaap a few months ago, everyone was migrating to Signal. Who uses signal now?
> but one that particularly struck me was that he laid off the entire accessibility team
How accessible is Twitter's website? As a normal user I already find it to be an utter chaos, a horrible UX, which is why I rarely go there.
Are the apps better? Doesn't some third party offer a more accessible interface?
How accessible is Twitter's website? As a normal user I already find it to be an utter chaos, a horrible UX, which is why I rarely go there.
Are the apps better? Doesn't some third party offer a more accessible interface?
> I can’t see myself putting the same work in to help the world’s (current) richest man pay the billion dollar annual interest on the loans he took out to buy the place on a weird narcissistic whim.
This
This
If Twitter and Mastodon were taken permanently offline tomorrow, would this be of any significant loss to the world?
When I see people like the author getting so publicly and verbosely upset about a social media website, I wonder about their perspective. There are surely much more important things going on than preening to the crowds.
When I see people like the author getting so publicly and verbosely upset about a social media website, I wonder about their perspective. There are surely much more important things going on than preening to the crowds.
I find Mastodon doomed by design, understanding design as a whole, not just software. It looks like the technical right choice, including all the bells and whistles: decentralized, own your instance, etc.
However twitter's issue, and most of social network issues are the human factor. And by that design Mastodon is not inmune to any of it, it even encourages larger echo chambers, and reduces audiences.
I would say, very tech savvy people used their hammer to something they believed to be a nail.
However twitter's issue, and most of social network issues are the human factor. And by that design Mastodon is not inmune to any of it, it even encourages larger echo chambers, and reduces audiences.
I would say, very tech savvy people used their hammer to something they believed to be a nail.
Musk is simply roleplaying as a competent businessman, with a side mission of appeasing his bizarre army of deluded sycophants who worship him for being a kooky crazy genius (he isn't). This is exactly the kind of image he thought he had when he swanned in and fired everyone: he thought it made him look like a cutthroat, intelligent businessman; it's simply a coincidence that Twitter does happen to be a bloated, mismanaged mess.
If you're not setting up your own instance, make sure to help fund the instance you are using. Maybe it's on the about page or DM/Mention the server admin! They can tell you where to donate
The fake consternation and lament over Twitter has been tiring. Really, most of the world does not care.
Unfortunately I have to say that I’m too removed from this to care (I guess decisions like this happen invisibly in every company all the time). However, the true intentions about this acquisition do make me curious. Does he really think that patting the backs of a handful of conservative extremists will make Twitter better? (An already global leader in its segment?) can anyone give me a concrete analysis of the scenario? As far as I know there were a couple of attempts to create such “free” networks and it never really goes anywhere. I really appreciate his work as an engineer but I have a feeling he overreached here.
Question: If you run a Mastadon server, what legal liabilities does that expose you to? How might that vary by country?
It's exciting to see a truly open social network getting so many users.
'It looks like' - so the big headline already contains a 'maybe'?
recent tweet of his: 'To clarify: I'll likely continue to post new stuff (blog posts, project releases etc) here, and I'll watch out for DMs and mentions, but I'm not going to be refreshing my timeline or actively seeking out conversations to engage in any more' - link for the curious: https://twitter.com/simonw/status/1588778119422701568
reminds me of all the "Quitting Facebook" memes.
I'm gladly going to be wrong, but Mastodon will never be mainstream _anywhere near_ to what Twitter was/still is for all the reasons that have been pointed out on every HN thread about it for days now... How about waiting to see what happens instead of an ideological knee-jerk 'pat myself on the back' half-quitting but not really reaction? Sigh... and the love it gets here, I can't understand it...
It's going to come off as harsh but I can't read this and not think of a petulant child not getting what it wants.
Maybe it's just because I don't have Twitter, Facebook or any of that crap so I guess I can't understand it because I don't have a stake in any of it... guess that kind of reaction is typical for someone living the messy life of hour by hour social media craze.
(sorry I could not refuse to write this comment)
recent tweet of his: 'To clarify: I'll likely continue to post new stuff (blog posts, project releases etc) here, and I'll watch out for DMs and mentions, but I'm not going to be refreshing my timeline or actively seeking out conversations to engage in any more' - link for the curious: https://twitter.com/simonw/status/1588778119422701568
reminds me of all the "Quitting Facebook" memes.
I'm gladly going to be wrong, but Mastodon will never be mainstream _anywhere near_ to what Twitter was/still is for all the reasons that have been pointed out on every HN thread about it for days now... How about waiting to see what happens instead of an ideological knee-jerk 'pat myself on the back' half-quitting but not really reaction? Sigh... and the love it gets here, I can't understand it...
It's going to come off as harsh but I can't read this and not think of a petulant child not getting what it wants.
Maybe it's just because I don't have Twitter, Facebook or any of that crap so I guess I can't understand it because I don't have a stake in any of it... guess that kind of reaction is typical for someone living the messy life of hour by hour social media craze.
(sorry I could not refuse to write this comment)
Surely no one felt more desperation for Mastodon to operate as an adequate substitute for Twitter than GOP leadership in the aftermath of Trump's Twitter ban and the 2020 election. If those people, the most motivated people in all of time to make Mastodon work, can't make Mastodon work, then I struggle to see how the Musk-haters plan to switch over successfully.
I'd apply the same argument to every other platform - if someone could have done it better than Twitter, then you'd better believe that the GOP would have already been all-in on that platform long before you got there.
I'd apply the same argument to every other platform - if someone could have done it better than Twitter, then you'd better believe that the GOP would have already been all-in on that platform long before you got there.
Is there a stable mature lightweight mastodon/PubSub server (ideally with sqlite storage) that's easy to maintain to serve a handful of users?
Toot! is a great (paying) iOS client, it can have multiple servers compared to the official Mastodon application: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/toot/id1229021451
Why do people care so much about twitter?
It is fascinating that people feel justified ignoring the user experience on Twitter when talking about whether to use Twitter.
I don't know what it "really means" when all the motivations, incentives and goals are unpacked, but there are surely some fascinating lessons here to be learned. Previously I've only seen social networks come under pressure when the user experience changed markedly so this seems new.
I don't know what it "really means" when all the motivations, incentives and goals are unpacked, but there are surely some fascinating lessons here to be learned. Previously I've only seen social networks come under pressure when the user experience changed markedly so this seems new.
It's great that more people are moving to the properly federated FOSS alternative! Even if they are doing so due to unreal fears.
So Twitter was “really good” (while it was helping the many rich shareholders of a random public company) but it’s suddenly “work” a couple of days after the owner changed?
Nothing wrong for not using it because of ideological reasons, but the product’s accessibility (or anything else really) hasn’t changed yet.