Dormant Social Media Life While Sorting Through Drives

Dormant Social Media Life While Sorting Through Drives

Byrichard

Recently my Social Media Life has become dormant. I do visit Facebook every so often but I ignore Instagram, barely touch Mastodon or the fediverse, and in general have stopped looking at social media for a social life. It’s not that my life offline has become vibrant. It’s that online is empty of meaningful engagement, especially in winter.

From the nineties right up to around 2018 or so social media was a place to meet and be social. It’s during the pandemic that social media seemed to die. I think that social media relies on meeting people in the physical world to have value. People on the social web use it when they’re on the toilet, or waiting for something else to happen. They’re just filling small gaps in their schedule.

Plenty of Potential Storage

The other reason is more positive. I have terabytes of storage spread across twenty two drives, or more and I am re-organising everything in order to see how much space I have free. I have at least twenty terabytes of data storage. I might have as much as fourty two terabytes of storage but due to file duplications I don’t have much space that is free.

Required for Video Projects

That’s frustrating, especially if you want to take video and can generate up to 64 gigabytes of data at a time. 64 gigabytes, because my Sxs cards have that amount of storage. The drone could have up to 512 gigabytes of storage if I put the right SD card into the camera.

Freeing Cloud Space

I can’t delete data from cloud storage solutions because I haven’t consolidated all of my photo and video files from iCloud, Flickr, Google Photos and one or two other services. If all of my files are organised chronologically then I can migrate from cloud storage solutions without worrying about losing images that might have been backed up only to iCloud, or Google Photos, or another solution.

By consolidating the data offline, I can manage data in the cloud with ease.

Shrodinger’s Storage Cat

For data to be safe you need to have two local copies, and one offsite backup. If you have a dozen, or two dozen drives then that data is like shrodinger’s cat. You don’t know whether it’s backed up (living) or a single copy (dead). Delete the wrong file and you might end up losing a few days, or a few months of data. By having a centralised main storage your small satellite drives become working drives. You use them while you’re working on a project, and once the project is over you move it to the main storage solution and either wipe and reuse that drive, or keep it as a backup. Shrodinger’s cat has left the storage device.

Looking Forward

Years ago I bought an eight terabyte drive because I planned to consolidate my personal video and photo files but I never got around to it. This morning I finished moving the junk I had on that drive to other drives and I have now started to backup the video and photo data that I had temporarily kept on a five terabyte drive. I realised that I have more data than would fit on a five terabyte drive, but it also failed to mount at least once.

For years I had the same data on five to six drives but in my move towards centralising, and then backing up my data I made myself unsafe. I was left with just one copy of data. Now that I am backing up the four terabytes of data I have from the five terabyte drive to the 8 terabyte drive I have a little margin of safety.

Consolidation

When moving files from the 5tb drive to the 8tb drive the process is simple. Move the video folde to the video folder, photo to photo, and documents to documents. It’s when I start moving the secondary drives to the main drive to consolidate my photos and videos that the value is generated because this is when I detect duplicate folders, videos and photos. This is when the value comes in.

Moving four terabytes of data takes hours, but once that data is moved, and as I consolidate data from six or seven other drives I will copy only the files that do not exist on the main volume. I will then move the files that I have checked into a zz-backed-up folder.

Low Value

When I was trying to free space on drives I deleted the files from the drive as soon as they were copied over. Now I am moving them to zz-backed-up as a scruffy backup. The aim is to be able to recover files if the 8tb volume fails, but these are a stop gap. The next step is to backup the 8 tb volume.

And Finally

Nothing is backed up until you have at least two copies locally, and a third off-site copy. The next step is to copy the files from an older volume to a newer volume. Old drives fail, so having files on older volumes is a risk. When I finish consolidating files to the eight terabyte volume I will then duplicate it to a newer 8TB volume.

As a side project, once I have two or more drives that are free of data I could experiment with setting up a raid system.

The Absurdity of Social Media and the Fediverse
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The Absurdity of Social Media and the Fediverse

Byrichard

It’s Ten Fourty Eight on a Monday and i have barely touched social media. I have barely touched social media for two reasons. People don’t see it as socialising anymore. They take a utilitarian approach to social media, which makes it absurd. The second reason is that we see how ignorant the world is about current affairs.


In the past when we used social media we were looking to have conversations, share ideas and do more. Now people want to promote books, and fill gaps in time between when they are with family, friends or colleagues, without considering that social networks, for decades, were about connecting people who lived alone, or were too introverted to be the life and soul of “physical world” parties.


Everyone on Twitter says “I am not looking for friendships” and “I am not looking to meet online friends in real life” and as I see these posts every so often I think “then what the fork am I still doing on the Fediverse, and Twitter?” I am not on Twitter anymore, but I wrote that out of habit.


If the people I interact with on Social Media don’t actually want to be social, then my use of social media has become absurd, because I want one thing, and everyone else is utilitarian. It nullifies the use of these social networks.


The uphill battle that I have strived towards, for decades, is absurd as it was in the 90s. It’s as lonely to use social networks as it was in the 90s.


Meetup


I did consider dumping the Fediverse for Meetup.com, to meet with people in person, and to do pleasant sports. I changed my mind when I saw that they want 30 CHF per person, per event, in some cases. When I’m doing the driving and navigating I don’t want to pay someone 30 CHF just for organising something that should be free. I am fine with covering petrol and other costs. I’m not fine with paying a random person money for organising something, without anything being provided.


Facebook


The reason for which I dumped Twitter is clearly present on Mastodon instances so I am tempted to dump Mastodon too. I find myself gravitating back towards Facebook. If people are not looking to build friendships on the Fediverse, and if people are not informed about Current Affairs, then it makes sense to gravitate away from Twitter and Mastodon instances, towards Facebook. Facebook is, after all, a network of IRL friends that we happen to be friends with online, too.


Local Groups


One of the key advantages of Facebook over the Fediverse is that we can find networks of local people. We can meet local people, and go to local events. We don’t have to be isolated with strangers ranting about current affairs that no one has read a book about. We can meet local people, and shift our personal lives from online solitude, to offline friendships, and maybe more.


And Finally


I still hate Facebook but Meetup wants money for events. The Fediverse is filled with ignorant people arguing about current affairs rather than reading and understanding context. Twitter is degrading rapidly, and swinging to the Right. The Fediverse is also filled with the Utilitarianism that I was complaining about from 2007 onwards. In the end Facebook might have become the least worst option around, for the moment. I can’t believe I wrote that.


The reason I dumped Facebook hasn’t left, but there does seem to be a local community at last, and that’s priceless. I use social media to negate solitude, and the Fediverse is not helping negate that sentiment.


Facebook is still filled with a lot of kitsch.

Threads and the Fediverse
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Threads and the Fediverse

Byrichard

A few weeks ago I was completely opposed to Threads being connected and accepted by the Fediverse because I hated the idea of 100 million users flooding a social network with 10 million users. Now that threads has imploded I feel differently.

Now that Threads is the same size as the Frediverse, or at least closer to being the same size, the impact of the two joining up would be diminished. Now is the time when, theoretically, the impact of Threads and the Fediverse merging would be less dramatic.

Still Unwanted

[caption id="attachment_10494" align="alignnone" width="300"]A human looking a Threads, with the Fediverse visible behind. A human looking a Threads, with the Fediverse visible behind.[/caption]

Although the Fediverse and Threads could merge, and be on equal footing, for now, I still don’t want it. Facebook users have a different social media ethic than the Fediverse does. I don’t want to see posts by utilitarians, rather than human beings. I want human connections, not marketers.

The Algorithm

[caption id="attachment_10492" align="alignnone" width="300"]Threads and the Fediverse where the Fediverse is the milky way Threads and the Fediverse where the Fediverse is the milky way[/caption]

Algorithms use machine learning to read posts, assess them, and decide how to share them. The Fediverse is about sharing, and re-sharing, in chronological order. How could Threads read toots, notes, articles and more, without breaching privacy rules?

For now the Fediverse behaves according to who we follow, and what the people we follow share. With algorithms machine learning would make those decisions, destroying the chronological order of things

The question is “how can Facebook adapt to be compatible with the Fediverse?”. In theory it can’t because we’re talking about two different philosophies. One where chronology and follows are king, and the other where algorithms dictate what people see, feel and buy.

A Different Age

[caption id="attachment_10495" align="alignnone" width="300"]A hand holding threads with the Fediverse behind it A hand holding threads with the Fediverse behind it[/caption]

Although I really liked the old Twitter, and social media landscape, when it was unprofitable, that reality has vanished and now we are in the age of Influencers, clickbait, social media as addiction, and more. That’s why the thing that fascinates me the most now, is using WordPress and ClassicPress to play with the Fediverse. When they play nicely together I will be able to blog, and converse from my blog posts, without spending too much time in the Fediverse.

And Finally

Threads Posts get more likes for brands than on Twitter which illustrates why Threads is not interesting for human beings. Social media, for me, is about sharing and caring, rather than utilitarian apathy.

To summarise: Threads is a network for brands to market to people, whilst the Fedivere exists for people to converse, share, and collaborate. If the utilitarianism of Threads comes to the Fediverse, then the Fediverse will lose some of its allure.

The Post Social Media Age
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The Post Social Media Age

Byrichard

Someone asked Is decentralization the future of social media? and I’d take an extra leap. I believe that the Fediverse, made possible by ActivityPub, and the other one, made possible by the Authenticated Transfer Protocol both point to a different future

Playing With WordPress, ClassicPress and Firefish

As we play with the fediverse, and we experiment with WordPress, ClassicPress and Firefish, among other instances or communities one thing becomes clear. The social media age could be over, replaced by something akin to the blogrings of the 90s. What I mean by this is that the fediverse is a gigantic web portal. We add photos via pixelfed, video via peertube, conversations by mastodon, notes via Firefish, and blog posts via WordPress and ClassicPress, among others. The point is we’re on niche platforms, talking with other niche platforms without logging in and out constantly. Log in, in one place, and we’re connected to everything within the fediverse. We’re on a community of communities.

Post Social Network

That’s why we’re in a post social media age. In the 90s and the first half of the zeros (2000s) we were on websites for our niche interests. Eventually with Twitter, Facebook and the explosion of websites it was decided that oauth was useful to make logging into and out of websites almost instant. We didn’t need to think of a user name, password and all that crap. It was automatic, so we could surf between services more easily.
Remember in Twit podcasts of the mid zeroes Leo Laporte and others were speaking about signup burnout, about being tired of having to fill in forms for every single website they joined.
Now we’re beyond that. Twitter is x-tinct and Facebook sees that it needs to join the fediverse, not to be irrelevant. I would argue that it is idiotic of Facebook to join the fediverse because it already has four billion users, on a planet with 10 billion people. Everyone that is on the fediverse, probably quit Facebook years ago, because of the crimes that Facebook has commited, from helping fascists reach power, encouraging genocide, playing with making people depressed, and more.

The New Era

In the age of the fediverse photo sharing is integral to the fediverse, video sharing is integral to the fediverse, blogging is integral to the fediverse, and conversations are integral to the fediverse. We can generate the content of our choice, and share it on the fediverse and everything is already integrated.

Google Reader, E-mail and FeedReaders

With Google reader, e-mail and feedreaders we could subscribe to RSS feeds to dozens, or even hundreds of feeds at a time, but every day you need to go through and mark things as read, either by scrolling through them, loading the post or other. It’s easy to have hundreds, or even thousands of unread posts. With the Fediverse we don’t have that problem, we jump in and out when we want, and we see what is recent, rather than what is recommended. We can see what is recommended, but in my eyes the people we “follow” are already recommending things for us to see.

Corporate Social Media and the Cost of Quitting

“We have been advocating for interoperability between platforms for years,” he wrote shortly. “The biggest hurdle to users switching platforms when those platforms become exploitative is the lock-in of the social graph, the fact that switching platforms means abandoning everyone you know and who knows you. The fact that large platforms are adopting ActivityPub is not only validation of the movement towards decentralized social media, but a path forward for people locked into these platforms to switch to better providers. Which in turn, puts pressure on such platforms to provide better, less exploitative services. This is a clear victory for our cause, hopefully one of many to come.”

When Jaiku and Twitter were competing I preferred Jaiku, and when Twitter and Identica were competing I preferred Identica. I loved Google + but it was destroyed. I liked Google Reader but it was destroyed. I liked Instagram but it was bought by Facebook and destroyed. Facebook destroyed itself, by encouraging people to see stuff by strangers, rather than their friends, forcing people to seak new groups. Some of those groups were toxic, so I dumped Facebook.

With the fediverse you can be on three, four or five instances and follow all the same people across each instance. You’re not stuck to a single instance. There is no single point of failure. You can bounce from instance to instance, and occasionaly look for replies and reactions.

And Finally

One of the beautiful things about the Fediverse is that we don’t need to see ads anymore. We just see content, conversations and community. We don’t have to scroll down and see posts that look like posts, until you notice they’re selling cryptocurrency, magical cures, or other rubbish. Twitter was fun, but now we’re scrolling by an advert every fourth or fifth post, like it was with Instagram after Facebook bought it.

I like the Fediverse and what it represents.

ClassicPress and the Fediverse part deux
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ClassicPress and the Fediverse part deux

Byrichard

After my first post about playing with ClassicPress and the Fediverse it was suggested that I try the nightly build of ClassicPress so I did. The result can be seen here.

Mastodon and Firefish

I have tested integration with the fediverse via Mastodon.social but also firefish.social and mastodon.social is faster, but mastodon.social eventually catches up. I tried posting a blog post, and commenting on blog posts and it works although not instantly. You need to wait for the changes to be propagated to where they are needed.

A change in tact

Initially I was going to try using a different domain but I struggled with getting the SSL certificates to work so I decided to create the subdomain ClassicPress.main-vision.com for ClassicPress tests and blog.main-vision.com for WordPress. In the case of ClassicPress I wanted to be able to play around, without making too much noise with my daily blog.

With the WordPress blog I wanted to test whether the webfinger json file for individual users would work, and it does, at least partially. When I looked up the usernames on webfinger it did show the users, but mastodon and Firefish do not detect them.

ClassicPress and WordPress Are Viable Options

I spent most of yesterday playing around with the two, and seeing if ideas worked, and so far the answer is “yes, if you’re patient” but that’s because the idea is still relatively new so progress has to be made. WordPress does work well, and ClassicPress is close behind. If you write a post, and check for comments the next day, then it works fine.

Sub-Domains count

The other question was whether it had to be example.com or whether subdomain.example.com would work and the answer is that subdomains work. If your blog instance is two or three subdirectories deep, then subdomains are a good alternative to manually generating webfinger files.

More Experimenting with ClassicPress
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More Experimenting with ClassicPress

Byrichard

Although I didn’t achieve what I set out to achieve I have been experimenting with ClassicPress and the Fediverse, but rather than do it from my main blog I have decided to experiment within a subdomain and so far I have achieved much. I see that activitypub and webfinger can be installed on ClassicPress.

I checked that a webfinger was created and displayed correctly but this took trial and error. The biggest error is that to create a webfinger that is valid you must come from an https hyperlink. If it is not secure you get a “socket not secure error”. I found a solution, by creating classicpress.main-vision.com for the sake of testing.

In so doing I achieved two things. The first is that I found a way to experiment with ClassicPress without destroying my website but at the same time I found a way to experiment with other things too. By a similar setup I could get Wordpress and webfingers, where a few accounts are possible, rather than just one.

The Stumbling Block

I have hit a wall. I created the ClassicPress instance. The webfinger works when I test it and the account is visible on the Fediverse. The problem, at the moment, is that posts do not appear in Fediverse timelines. I don’t know why that is yet. I also noticed that if I follow from mastodon instances, I can, but from Firefish I can’t. It’s not meant to work, so my experimentation is out of curiousity.

The Next Step

The next step will be to create a subdomain and experiment with a wordpress blog. I expect this to work flawlessly, but what I really want to see, is whether I can get the webfinger to work so that it displays several users for a single instance. If I succeed then I will have demonstrated that Wordpress can be a full-fledged Fediverse instance.

ClassicPress and the Fediverse – Not Quite Ready
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ClassicPress and the Fediverse – Not Quite Ready

Byrichard

Yesterday I experimented with migrating my blog from WordPress to ClassicPress to see whether ClassicPress plays nicely with the fediverse. It does but there is room for improvement.

If you want instructions on how to migrate from wordpress you can find the instructions here. Summarised, you download the switch to ClassicPress plugin, you run it, it checks that you’re ready to migrate, you fix what needs to be fixed, and when ClassicPress sees that you’re ready it will allow you to start the migration. The migration takes a second or two. It felt almost instant in my case. You know it has succeeded because you see the “ClassicPress” message at the bottom of the admin section.

Wanting to Quit WordPress

I want to dump WordPress for two main reasons. The first is that it has become bloated and slow. It offers an enormous amount of functionality, but at the cost of speed, and efficiency. The second reason is that it uses React and I am deeply opposed to anything developed by Facebook. Instead of connecting single people, it reminds single people of their isolation. It gets caught playing with emotions, and facilitating genocide, and never, ever apologises. By using React WordPress is closer to Facebook than I would like.

How Well ClassicPress plays with the Fediverse

If you want to write a blog post, and for it to show up on the fediverse via the Activity Plugin then it’s ready and work well. As soon as you post from ClassicPress it shows up in the fediverse streams. If that’s what you want to do then it works seamlessly.

Comments Unseen

With WordPress if someone comments to a post on the fediverse then it shows up in the wordpress comments section. With ClassicPress the comments are only visible on the fediverse. The quick fix to this, is to write a comment in wordpress that shows up on the fediverse. At this point communication is two way.

Why This Matters

If you’re writing blog posts, and people comment on the fediverse, but you can’t see the comments, then you won’t know to thank, ignore or react. You will be posting into a vacuum with no dialogue taking place. By having two way commenting we have a way of having the blog as an integral part of the fediverse, and vice versa. Now that I know what’s possible I don’t want to go back.

The Side Track

Aside from experimenting with ClassicPress I also noticed that there are plugins that allow you to provide a summary of content headings at the top of the page, as well as a markdown parser or two to choose from. The final one was an estimated reading time. The last one isn’t that intereting, but it’s a curiousity worth knowing about.

And Finally

When I can get the exchange of comments to be from the Fediverse to my blog, and vice versa withput having to comment first I will be happy because then it will be seamless and I will be able to dump WordPress and focus on ClassicPress.

Mainstream Fediverse

Mainstream Fediverse

Byrichard

I started writing a post, but felt that it was too negative so I stopped, and now I’m writing this one. I want to explore the way in which Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Reddit are still front and foremost on The Guardian Website, as well as many others.


As I write this Twitter has become x.com. Reddit has had several weeks of protests and Facebook reached over three billion users. The paradox, with Facebook is that it’s the most unpleasant “social network” I know. I find Facebook and Instagram deeply unpleasant to use.


The Slow Pivot Away From Corporate Social Media


The goal is not to speak about the social media giants, because plenty of people can do that. What I want to consider, is the lack of attention that is being given to Lemmy, Kbin, Firefish, Mastodon and the Fediverse in general. There is now a fediverse of social networks that we can use to share news, and life.


I don’t see any “share with Pixelfed” or share on “peertube”. I don’t even really see “share via the wordpress community.


By now I would have expected the Guardian, New York Times, Le Monde and other papers to start sharing their news stories and articles via the Fediverse, especially since making a website fediverse friendly is relatively easy, especially if you’re on a self-hosted wordpress blog. Within minutes a wordpress blog can be a fediverse server, if not sooner.


Professional Social Media


If I was working in Professional Social Media I would already have pivoted towards streamlining fediverse participation. With the fediverse a website, or instance, can be fully integrated within the fediverse, making it easier to engage, rather than more difficult. No need for people to sign in, to sign up, or even to browse away from their mastodon feed. Everything is integrated.


You can reply to a fediverse blog post, as a reply, and it’s seamless. There is no barrier to interaction, as we had with older social media websites.


No Navigating Away – No Threads


With the fediverse you can write posts of any length. You can microblog, if you wish, or you can write a dissertation. Both are native, so need to navigate from one website to another, and because character limits don’t exist, if you’re on the right instances, then there is no need for threads.


Threads and the Network Defect


Threads was launched and picked up 100 million users, but they were soon angry that they couldn’t cancel their accounts without destroying their Instagram accounts, but they also found that by not being able to see their followers with ease, the new site/app had little to no value, so 70 million left. It might have been quick to grow but due to design flaws it was also quick to lose users.


FB hasn’t learned


I left FB and IG because the sense of community was lost. The reason people fled Twitter too, is because of the disintegration of the communitiies that they wanted to be a part of. I said that Threads would not be of interest, and as we see, within a week it had lost its appeal.


Not Just Conversations


The fediverse is not just a way for people to chat with each other. It’s a way of sharing entire articles, blog posts, videos, photos and more.


Blog posts, articles and photos are more than that. They are the start of a conversation. If people comment then that content becomes more visible because it bubbles back to the surface again.


New Opportunities


in 2006 and 2007 Twitter was limited by the bandwidth that we had on mobile phones, wifi and home connections. In 2023 the environment is mature. Live video whilst walking, sharing of photos from anywhere, and more, have become common place. The Fediverse is already, video, text, audio, photos, articles, blogs and more.


The Fediverse as Portal


The concept of web portals is an old one, and one of the oldest ones still around is Yahoo. If used properly then the Fediverse can be seen as a portal, for communities to join together and communicate. The Guardian, New york Times and others should take advantage of the opportunities that the Fediverse provides people with.

Twitter X-Roads – Twitter Crossroad

Twitter X-Roads – Twitter Crossroad

Byrichard

With the change in name from Twitter to X, and with the destruction of a recognisable brand mentioned in tens of thousands of podcasts, podcasts, episodes and millions of web pages I was curious to see how Twitter was, with the new logo. It took more than 24 hours to change the favicon, and whilst x.com does redirect to Twitter, it does not do anything else than redirect to Twitter.com. You can’t see your x posts there.


A Twitter X Roads – Twitter at a Cross Roads


I was web disaster tourism yesterday and today. I was going over to Twitter to gawk, and stare, at the app formerly known as Twitter, being disfigured to please the ego of a billionaire. One of the things that surprises me is that people are still using Twitter. I stopped months ago, by now, and I don’t miss it. The community that I was going for either left, before Musk, or after he transformed the site. I noticed that at least one website called it the Zombie network.


Social Networks Without Ads


When you get used to the Fediverse, you get used to timelines without ads. You get used to timelines without algorithms choosing what you do or do not see. You see things as they are posted, and in conversation order. Without ads life is nicer.


A few days ago I noticed that a fediverse instance raised two thirds more than it needed to break even. This is good news for that instance as this means it can expand, if and when required, and it can continue for two more years, if not.


And Finally


I am happy I gave up on Twitter weeks ago, because if I had not I would find current developments depressing. Instead I’m looking out of curiousity, and I’m surprised to see that people are still using Twitter, despite the high probability that the site we loved to hate, is on borrowed time. I’m just a web disaster tourist, looking at the site, before it is left for the way back machine to remember.

X-Istential – Podcasts and Where We Find People
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X-Istential – Podcasts and Where We Find People

Byrichard

Yesterday Twitter decided to re-brand as X. X.com redirects to Twitter.com. Within the next few days, weeks, months twitter will change its name and brand, and the URLs will be wrong. All twitter links, all embedded tweets, everything will become dead links. When we look for something on Twitter, we will be redirected to X.


The Podcast Legacy


Every single website, every single CMS, every Static Website, everything, will have to be re-written to point to the new domain name. Plenty of content will not be updated and will be a reminder of the past.


I’m thinking of all the podcast episodes and conversations that speak about Twitter, all the guests that mention their Twitter accounts. All of those “where can we find you?”, “where can we follow you” will turn to nothing. Suddenly mentioning Twitter accounts will be a reminder of the past.


Happy to Have Broken From Twitter


I am happy that I already broke my ties with Twitter, because this change would make me really sad. It’s the end of a culture, it’s the end of an era. It’s the end of an important part of web history. Musk has destroyed an important cultural symbol. “Pour des Prunes”, as the french would say. “For nothing, as the English would say.


Don’t Complain


More than once I have been told not to complain, to filter what I don’t like, and just to accept what I can’t change. Yesterday I was unhappy about a pop up that appeared twice, trying to teach me how to use Mastodon. I expressed my disgust, and was told not to complain. The thing is, I am a heavy social media user, so I am more sensitive to toxic changes, on social networks than most, because I live and breath these networks.


Hashtags


I complain about hashtags because I have seen them destroy conversations on twitter, and undermine communities. If people had listened, Twitter might not have become such a toxic place.


I am happy to see that you can go for toots, before seeing hashtags being used, and that’s great, because the moment hashtags saturate timelines is the moment the community will be dead, and the time to move on will have come.


Kbin


Yesterday I decided to take a break from the Fediverse and went to Kbin but all I saw in the threadiverse were people complaining about Spez and reddit. If those users could, I know that they would return to reddit, because that is their home. They’re expats, refugees. They moved because staying put was no longer possible.


I have been complaining about Twitter since Jaiku was around, but the critical mass were on Twitter so I had no choice. Google + was great, but it was destroyed by Google because they destroy anything that is niche, rather than mass appeal.


Slow to Adapt


It’s interesting that the Web is so slow to adopt to the new social networks. I don’t see that many sites that encourage people to add Mastodon, Kbin, Lemmy or Firefish accounts. They’re sticking with Twitter and Reddit, despite the clear shift by an active part of the social web, from one set of platforms to the next.


Frozen in Time


I was looking at one of my twitter accounts and it has been frozen in time. The last post that was sent from my Wordpress Blog marks the end of Jetpack talking with Twitter. That account is now frozen in history. Until I update a post.


Worth Returning?


I considered returning to Twitter yesterday, because it’s easy to use, smooth and fast compared to fediverse instances. The problem is that every little change Musk makes, to destroy Twitter, is heartbreaking, if you have good memories of the old Twitter.


I left Twitter because I didn’t want ads to be injected every four posts, into my stream. I left Twitter because I don’t want an algorithm to choose what I see, rather than me. I don’t want to be on a site that I consider, is run by a morally bankrupt individual.


And Finally


Twitter has been mentioned in blog posts and podcasts for more than a decade. It has been mentioned in almost every podcast too. By dumping Twitter as a name X is destroying its own legacy. How many people will type x.com rather than Twitter.com? X is not a good brand name. X is just a letter, nothing more. Will people be x-ing? If they’re exing are they crossing? “Are you going to X that later”? X is having an x-istential crisis.