Checked in on how things are going.

You will probably not be surprised that most of the people who are all like "why are you leaving?" are either A) the same people who would always hand around when I was critical of Tesla and like every single reply that defended That Company and/or B) incapable of understanding the hypocrisy or else am fine with it because They Like That Guy

@TechConnectify you have always had a lot of Tesla defenders lurking around your comments to see if you ever say a nice thing about General Motors again.

@TechConnectify It's all the usual "free speech" reply guys getting upset. I mentioned Mastodon on a forum and the thread got mobbed by the resident "liking hitler is ok" trolls.

@TechConnectify not surprised at all. I stopped interacting on Twitter years ago because I just stopped seeing any benefit to it. People like that were always there and they just made it not fun after a while. I like it here, I just hope it doesn’t end up the same way in time.

@TechConnectify Living Colour was right.

> I know your anger, I know your dreams
> I've been everything you want to be
> Oh, I'm the cult of personality

@TechConnectify
It's a real sadness with what people are willing to put up with, as long as they are not inconvenienced by having to go elsewhere. Jumping to the defense of the BS over there is outright horrifying though. 👀

I'm not gonna judge you if you still like Twitter - and these people are (at least in my experience) mostly right that the core experience hasn't changed all that much (at least for those of use who always used Latest Tweets)

It's just hard for me to stick around there. Maybe it can get better. Maybe if Elon actually hands over the reigns it'll be worth another look.

But I can't stand the poking and taunting from the righteous right now.

@TechConnectify it’s tough to pull up stakes. Your true fans will make their way over here. Especially since his antics are not only harmful to most but disgusting and disrespectful.

@unfairuse lol, yeah.
Funny thing is, if they hold to their plans I will find things to like about them again. Hyundai clearly leapfrogged them with the E-GMP platform when it comes to tech and capabilities, but availability is still piss poor.

If GM rolls out Ultium with any degree of volume, then they'll probably get some kind words from me again. I keep up with what they're doing and I like their plans.

@TechConnectify his plan was to always hand the reigns over. He made that stupid poll for his own ego and as an out when he reveals the new ceo. He will still use and abuse the site on his whim. It’s why I appreciate the federated model we have here. Spin up your own server if you feel slighted by your admin and move account. It’s the way social media is headed

@TechConnectify I hate how much of my quiet time lately has been devoted to wondering how popular that fellow is and why.

@VRator Honestly what bothers me is how the "yeah, free speech!" contingent is now completely unironically using the "they're a private company, they can do what they want" defense.

Like, fuck! Dude! You were all mocking us for saying "free speech doesn't apply to a private corp" and now you're just gonna echo that without and OUNCE of self-reflection?

Have some principles, man.

@TechConnectify I have a LOT of automation still hooked around that. Meetup announcements, blog posts, etc.

But Vernon Reid and I had a quick discussion about the need for separate Jokers for the DCU being a Crisis, and he quote-tweeted me with a Flash reference, and I'm happy to leave Birdland on a high note.

@TechConnectify there's no reason from anything that's happened in the last 2 months to assume things are going to get better. The only thing about the situation that's changed recently is that Elon has probably made the site unsellable by accumulating massive legal liability. Will get worse before it gets better.

@mtsw I think you're probably right.

@TechConnectify totally with you

@TechConnectify i've frankly been considering a way to set up RSS so i could still receive updates from accounts i care about via Nitter. it's a shame it's had to come to this but it sounds like i'll benefit in the long run

@dynode I also experience anxiety from it. I feel like I'm being gaslit constantly by the "what has really changed?" folks, but then again those who make me feel that way probably have circles which are mainly Teslon fans.

It's just too much to take.

@TechConnectify Did you catch the part where he said that going forward, only Blue subscribers will be able to vote in polls? 🤔🤔🤔

(Which is strange since he's not supposed to be CEO anymore)

@muno lol, no I didn't.

What a way to turn selection bias up to 11

@TechConnectify (To clarify, it's polls re: Twitter policy changes. Not all twitter polls)

(still hilariously bad though)

@TechConnectify Have you seen that his response to the poll is "From now on, only blue-tick accounts can vote in Twitter polls"?

@TechConnectify very much agreed. One of the big things I noticed before scaling back on 🐦 was the huge uptick of toxicity in the comments of notable people. It had always bugged me but now, it feels like a tsunami. Trying to interact with interesting news felt like wading through a mountain of 💩, and was never worth it

@TechConnectify my experience hasn't changed much there, but I don't feel save anymore since the latest rule changes and account bans.

I like the Tesla cars in general(I drive one), but they also have their flaws.
I had respect for what Elon made with his companies. But this year he seems to be changed to the dark side.

I'm long in Tesla since 2017, his visions made the sucess, I hope he gets his mind back, at the moment he hurts the company

@TechConnectify The thing that's tough for me is because I've been there for over 15 years, I feel like I've built up a community around me. Yes, some are on other sites, but I don't know if I can cut that clean completely.

@Hau5test Thank god DM emails come through.

...for now...

@TechConnectify for me, the Elon takeover just brought a magnifying glass to the issues that have surrounded Twitter for a while. Though I do feel like I was seeing a deeper acceptance of right-wing extremism when I decided to ditch it. So far, it’s been a net positive on my life to not doomscroll constantly

@dr2okevin I mean this sincerely and am not trying to taunt you or anything:

His truly visionary side creates popularity. He knows how to make products that are sexy to look at and get people talking.

He, luckily, hired good engineers and put them in the right places. But as he continues down this rabbit hole, that's going to alienate them.

I don't see this going well, frankly. And reporting that he's not paying rent for Twitter offices is gonna scare a lot of future partners.

@dr2okevin I have long thought that Musk has very good showman instincts. I don't think he has good leadership instincts. He certainly doesn't like to cooperate with others unless it's on his terms.

As someone outside his sphere and more critical than most, his missteps seem to be piling up and everyone's taking notice.

@TechConnectify

I really like twitter and I miss it a lot.

But I don't want to do business with an insurrectionist.

@curmudgeonaf I think it's more a lot of us have assigned a lot of moral and ethical value to a particular person who now owns said website and is handling it exactly as predicted.

@TechConnectify As I said it feels for me like he changed somehow. Even tho he was never a very diplomatic person, he showed usually good intelligence and responded to factual criticism. It feels for me like he changed his personality. Like if his intelligence is gone, and only his Narcissism is left.
I have no idea why.

@TechConnectify Replace "Tesla" with "Neurolink" and this applies to my cohort.

The Olympics-level mental gymnastics people will go through to defend dollar store Howard Hughes is spectacular.

@TechConnectify Given that queerphobic bigotry has been official policy since the early days of the takeover, I've no desire to engage with it even if it WERE otherwise mostly unchanged.
Whatever the site used to be, it's just 4chan now. And I have never had ANY desire to interact with 4chan.

@TechConnectify I miss very little from the birdsite, but by far the thing I miss the least is the Elon sycophants somehow wedging themselves into every conversation.

@Sifuri_Ibex That really is the best word. They've gone beyond stan and to full-on sycophant if they're still just happily goin' along with it all

@TechConnectify The shitty Tesla bros isn’t an issue for me, since I don’t have a big enough following to hit critical mass there. I want to move out of principle (I dislike musk, his policies, and the general direction he’s moving things), but if the people I want to follow don’t go I’m not sure what I’m moving for. If everyone I want to follow moved today, I wouldn’t look back.

@TechConnectify At some point it gets bad enough that you just have to vote with your feet.

@TechConnectify Even if it gets better, though...so what? The Fediverse was already a better social tool than birdsite by every metric except user adoption and learning curve.
Since recent events have pushed users past both of those stumbling blocks, what's the motivation to switch back?

@TechConnectify in addition to that I was getting a lot of spam, almost entirely crypto/nft related. I'm sure it's the same for anyone else working in technology.

@TechConnectify given he's unbanned the worst abusers twitter has ever seen (since it wasn't exactly easy to get permanently banned there) i feel like the damage has already been done

@TechConnectify I've rarely encountered a cult of personality quite like this one. I don't even dislike Teslas, but it's become impossible to have critical opinions about any aspect of them on that platform.

@TechConnectify The entire service in and of itself has become abusive, particularly under the reign of Elon Musk. I've honestly felt a wave of relief here on Mastodon comparatively speaking.

@TechConnectify I feel you. I frequent the Explore page on Twitter. The tone of content on that page is vastly different since he took over. It's gotten considerably more far-right-wing. I'm not entirely sure if that's algorithm tweaks or just the alienated user base being less engaged there. Probably a bit of both.

Anyway, welcome, glad you're here :) Huge fan of your content.

@TechConnectify Most of the now ex-employees all agree that it's dead. We dont really see a path for it to come back with...

@TechConnectify I don't mind that guy most of the time. Sure the hypocrisy is pretty lame, but hypocrisy is nothing new to Twitter. It's just a different group of people that are mad about it.

@TechConnectify I'm so glad I nuked my account a month ago, the site just gotten much worse.

@TechConnectify For me Twitter became a shitpost platform and Mastodon became a serious-ish platform

@TechConnectify Nice to have you here though Alex.

@TechConnectify The number of people I respect that are reporting verbal abuse and threats since this change makes me worry. John Green has had issues. John Green!

@TechConnectify It’s just… I can’t seem to find many of the people I follow there on here. …and I got… frustrated… with Hive. I mean, yay for you and @hankgreen and @JerriLRyan@mastodon.world and all the others that I follow… But I like hearing what Simon Whistler and Mar🐪 and Danny Salter and all the others that I follow there. Starting over just isnt easy.

@TechConnectify I don’t care you judge me. I still like there, it’s still better. 5 year ago everyone was enraged “the algorithm created bubbles” that you could only see what you agree with. Now the far-right opted in to Truth-Social and the left (both far and moderate) is here. Now the devide is opt in and IDK where this will lead, but it does not look good. Also both sides guilt-visit Twitter to slap someone. The worst of 3 worlds.

@TechConnectify not surprised? I'm not even shocked and amazed :)

@TechConnectify a few creators telling on themselves - that there are literally no values that they hold which are more important than $$$ to them

@TechConnectify it’s becoming too unhinged. The decisions being made and the way Musk and fans choose to conduct themselves is not in the best interests of the public. They’re making another Parler/Truth social out of a platform that had otherwise worked just fine for over a decade before he took over. It’s sad to see it go the way it has. It’ll soon be little more than a husk of its former self

@TechConnectify "but it could hurt you as a creator!" - telling on your own lack of values

@TechConnectify The way I see it is that no one is obligated to use one social networking site any more than any other social networking site

Personally, I've already found a pretty decent crowd over here that posts some pretty cool content and see very little reason to participate over on The Other Site™

Some people might still be enjoying it over there, but for me it's just become a trainwreck that I can watch in real time while I sit here on the fence with my popcorn

@TechConnectify It's not hypocrisy to do the same thing to your enemy as they've done to you... for 5-6 years now at least. A few weeks of payback, on one site, and one side "can't even." Blocking, labeling, cry bullying, reporting, othering of people for their opinions. I appreciate the acknowledgement of who's righteous though. It all stops when when you just ignore the opinions you don't like. Censorship, gets you more censorship.

@TechConnectify Have to agree and I never wanted to. Before last week I was willing to ignore all the noise as nothing had actually changed in my Twitter experience - and then something the even the journalists seemed to miss, a bunch of ADSB related accounts got caught in the crossfire of the "plane tracking" nonsense.
This is morally untenable. If you don't like your private jet being tracked, go fly commercial. ADSB is a crucial public safety system which falls apart with censorship.

@TechConnectify SOOO Many consensus situations seem to have folks who are like this.

"Why are you leaving X? X's Y is fully tolerable/acceptable to me, but your leaving diminishes X for me.

You should just tolerate Y as I do, because it's convenient for me.

What do you MEAN you have different and equally valid preferences and experiences from me? That sounds made up. Anyway standing up against Nazis is the REAL intolerance."

@TechConnectify
Birdsite gets less and less fun to use as the days go by. Right now it's still usable to follow people and keep up with them, but I don't bother making new posts anymore. So any new posts of mine are just on here, while Birdapp is just for replying and liking stuff ATM

But right now the Elon stuff has been quiet, a little *too* quiet, which is always the most worrying thing

@TechConnectify Many of the people who will criticize you for leaving are the same people who, if you were to criticize thatguy on twitter would say, "and yet here you are! Why don't you leave if you don't like the way he runs it!"