Headed over there to DM somebody. Looked around, saw a retweet of a very coherent thread from a journalist explaining how restricting the press tends to not end well.

Silly me looked at the replies. It's a distressing amount of "you lot did this to yourselves" or "Journalists are nothing more than the priest class of the feminist liberal sewer called democracy" (actual quote!)

and folks?

I think that site might be too far gone.

Those are the kinds of folks who feel emboldened by recent changes on the platform - including leadership.

And people wonder why I'm not a fan of Musk...

@TechConnectify You actually found a journalist that Musk hadn't banned yet? Talk about finding a unicorn.

@TechConnectify
My humble view, check how many messages those repliers have in the last few days. Quality of anything comes with time and thought, more messages and the quality will water down to a level of utter shallowness.

@TechConnectify

@TechConnectify For about a week now, I've felt that my Mastodon feed has been both more informative and more entertaining than logging into my Twitter feed. It's still a little clunky here, but I'm enjoying it more for now.

@TechConnectify Yeah… I decided to “take a break” after the journalists started getting banned. Not because my journalistic endeavors that got me verified are “vital to democracy” or anything, but because the frothing orgy of fanatical right-wing enablement is just gross.

I miss the people I normally followed and/or interact with though. Some are here (obvi), but often interact less here.

@TechConnectify oh yeah, there’s no coming back from being this far over the edge.

@TechConnectify
What gets me is how giddy this very vocal (what I hope is a minority) is. The Q hole seems to have entirely warped the people it sucks in. They just want to "own the Libs", the reasons why their terrible "heros" we're banned is irrelevant, they just feel like liberals deserve the same now.

@TechConnectify Good to have you here.

@TechConnectify Movement to refer to it from henceforth as Twuth Social.

@TechConnectify Reading replies stopped becoming worth it once listing priority was given to blue subscribers. It became too much trouble to sift through once all the shit floated to the top versus when it was just sprinkled in.

@trey There's an astonishing number of folks who seem comfortable with "Private jet owner is a protected class"

I was trying to explain to somebody that I'm not allowed to drive my car without license plates - that broadcasts the whereabouts of my car to anyone who's looking and for good reason. Being tracked because of that is a known risk to anybody with a car but it's one we accept.

But ADS-B transmitters are just somehow uniquely special and worthy of protection for some reason.

@TechConnectify Birdsite

@TechConnectify

Agreed. The silencing of journalists for simply doing their job was too much for me.

I archived my account, logged out, removed my Twitter link from my sites, and never plan to go back. At the end of the day "voting with your wallet" when you are the product means removing yourself from the platform.

It's not ideal as not everyone will be Mastodon... But I can use Nitter.net to follow people still on the birdsite, without giving the birdsite any traffic.

@TechConnectify The replies to your own "locked" posts on there are also surprising. Only your followers should be allowed to respond to your recent "locked" posts right? I was surprised at how many Musk stans were in the replies even though your account is private.

You wouldn't think Musk stans would be apt to follow someone who is openly not a fan of Musk. But they don't make a lot of sense either so. 🤷

@TechConnectify
I won't be surprised if plenty of Musks current cheerleaders fall afoul of him (and his whims) at some point and they go into denial about what they have helped enable.

@TechConnectify The volume of anti-trans stuff increased tenfold in my feed in the initial days of Elon buying into Twitter in April. That’s when I bailed.

I really worry about what a “popular openly anti-trans social network” will mean for our safety as this continues on. We don’t have to be on the site for it to be a danger to us (or any other group for that matter).

@TechConnectify Certainly a depressingly large percentage of folk from all over are exceedingly far gone.

And certainly Elon is just going to run the site into the ground. Bafflingly dumb decisions at every turn since the beginning, all driven by ego and zero sense.

I mean, must be fun to leverage a lot of overvalued stock and other people's money to just burn in a big pile, but I can think of better things to do with it.

@TechConnectify Nope. I don’t wonder. :-)

@vkc I think/hope you can take some solace from the fact that Twitter really isn't *that* popular. Its perceived importance has always been inflated - not to say it can't be a real source of danger.

But as it continues to crater, I think not-evil people will become exhausted with it and bail - leaving it an echo chamber which quickly becomes boring for those left.

@TechConnectify

The only way to be able to pretend you can be a champion of free speech and ban journalists from your platform is to play to the crowd that is already convinced that journalists are evil and billionaires are going to save the planet.

@TechConnectify

@trey

I mean, I'm not a fan of tracking people with either of these technologies (and no, license plates themselves aren't "tracking devices, but automated license plate scanners are extremely common), but what's good for the goose is good for the gander!

@TechConnectify It's just 4chan, now.
The dumbest man on the planet just burnt a truckload of money to take one of the world's largest and most important direct communication and information platforms, and turn it into something nearly identical to the website most people consider the internet's most toxic cesspool.

@TechConnectify The people who bullied journalists way back at Gamergate are adults now. The "Ethics in Journalism" to protofascist ideology pipeline was always pretty short.

@TechConnectify I think we're at a worrying time with that stuff in general (Elon as a catalyst certainly doesn't help). Without trying to sound too partisan (it's global too) the rejection of the press, replacing them with your own failson influencer brigade is always going to be a bit fashy

@TechConnectify it's like watching a trainwreck, full of burning dumpsters .. i can't look away

@vkc @TechConnectify and in fairness, as horrible as it is, Facebook and Reddit both have massive swathes of anti-trans sentiments. Especially Reddit. I don’t know if Twitter falling into a crater will be enough to outshine those two.

@TechConnectify all anyone can seem to talk about over there right now is some sports thing being held in a country that doesn't care about human rights, with the games played in stadiums built by effectively slave labor.

@TechConnectify yup gonna say so https://aus.social/@bubonicfred/109535950210346981

@TechConnectify the new rules of birdsite https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/social-platforms-policy 😱

@TechConnectify It's really strange division in there just now for me, as I follow many Czech friends and acquitances and some global, mainly urbanist, channels. The everyday Czech part is almost as before, as it's too unimportant to actively damage (at least yet), in the global part, it's much more pronounced. And I suppose, it would be yet more heated if I followed US politics part...

@TechConnectify @GhostOnTheHalfShell Mastodon seems more like your kind of place anyway, Alec — it’s both geeky and generally polite. A lot of us feel more at home here.

@TechConnectify glad I found you here before it became illegal

@Roupine I've altered my Twitter bio to hopefully not violate the letter of the law, but absolutely the spirit.

@TechConnectify

#BirdShite is dying before our eyes.

@TechConnectify Those replying tend to be those who favor such action. Ironically, this action will likely have long-term negative economic consequences for the owner of the site. The diminished user base and decrease ad sales will lower its value. And using the car company to generate funds will not work as its value has cratered and these actions have likely have offended potential customers. Plus, it seems to be a few loud voices praising the actions.

@TechConnectify Same. I had so much respect for Mr. Musk for so many years and he may yet make of this a learning experience but it doesn’t bode well.

People are not rockets and while you can argue they are machines that function based off inputs and outputs it’s not at all intuitive how they work. We have many failed theories and much to learn.

So to he, who claims to want to take up the mantle of public town square for robust debate of ideas. Humility would be welcome now.

@TechConnectify I am there mostly for musician friends that find it to difficult / can't be arsed to switch. All my other friends moved here now!

@TechConnectify Any reason this thread is hidden behind a content warning? It’s tame my midwestern brother

@TechConnectify Happy that you are here!!

@TechConnectify I don't get the people who think they're making a stand by staying there. The best way to stand against Elon Musk and his ilk is to leave.

@TechConnectify I have decided that once I find someone’s mastodon and they seem active on it I’m unfollowing them on bird site. Once bird site is empty (or close enough) it’s off my phone. I’m already feeling better mentally the more I use this instead of bird site.

I don’t want social media gone from my life I want it to be better. For now that’s what this is. I hope it stays so. :)

@TechConnectify it's absolutely crazy what is happening to the BirdSite.

@styrofoamSkillet I took Twitter off my phone weeks ago and I should have done that /years/ ago

@TechConnectify it's basically turning into Elon's version of truth social. Luckily it keeps making him poorer, which is some consolation at least.

@TechConnectify Twitter is rapidly becoming a Parler or Truth Social, and the only reason a journalist would visit those sites is to see what batshit insane thing Trump is saying.

I'm expecting twitter will be the same soon. Either way, I'm not going back, the place is dead to me.

@TechConnectify Mister birdsite man is the most hilarious man ever. Tweet from june.

@TechConnectify *reading the second quote* Mmm, my favorite roughage: Word Salad!

@TechConnectify apart from that I'm just shocked at how many people actually hate the profession of journalism, one of the most important jobs on earth.

@TechConnectify “called democracy” The brainrot is terminal. They can have autocracy if they want but I’ll be headed out or part of whatever northern separatist movement shows up.

@TechConnectify The only hope I see these days is that Musk treats it like his offspring and abandons it, and/or the EU forces his hand on moderation and he abandons it, also just like his children.

The funniest damn thing to me is that the far-right thinks it's fine that Musk unilaterally suspends journalists but are mortified that former employees did their jobs by meeting to discuss how to handle reports from law enforcement, etc.

And now, with Musk punishing people for mentioning other socials, they are STILL humping his leg, even though they would have been screaming bloody murder if Jack had prevented them from including their links to other socials.

It's comical.

@TechConnectify Sadly I think you are not wrong

@TechConnectify @vkc Still loads of interesting people / organisations I follow on Twitter that aren't here though. Especially space stuff (e.g. Scott Manley, Tory Bruno, Peter Beck, etc.) and energy stuff (Robert Llewellyn and the rest of the #FullyCharged team). I'm missing those people, but not enough to dip back into the birdsite too often.

@TechConnectify somehow seeing“Musk” written now comes off as a dirty nickname to me

@TechConnectify i love you technology connections never leave me

@TechConnectify the problem with the comments section is that on any hot topic, it’s usually a train wreck made from dumpsters that are on fire. The other problem is that we are curious creatures and just can’t help but read the comments section. No matter how much we know better.

@TechConnectify I guess that tells where all the new engagement was coming from. I mean it was always garbage in the comments but I think there is a large migration TO twitter from people who left or were banned, probably some new accounts too, now that twitter has free speech.
I’m thinking it’s a lost cause at this point.

@TechConnectify TBH, that doesn't sound much different from how it's been for the last several years.

@TechConnectify I think my brain has been dissolved too much, the fact I can interpret that second comment and know what they mean (don't agree... But I know what they're saying) makes my head hurt

@TechConnectify ahhhh.. I think there was a cw and I ignored it.

My head hurts over that one. How the hell is democracy a feminist sewer if women are never allowed to lead?

The stupidity of these incels is never-ending and Musk is their poster boy.