I would love to see more of my friends start using Mastodon.
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@SJHoodlet I think that there should be always a difference between political arguments and aggressing someone as a person.
I also hate Amazon and FB, but as a published author, I know that my publishers sell *everywhere* - they must do it. And some organisations or artists only get enough customers on big platforms.
And Indies do need every cent for making a living.
I block those people aggressing others personally with a
(if it's harassing, I report them).
But it's very difficult! -
@Bern Yes, absolutely. I'm not a fan of Amazon by any means, but I want my books to be read, and I'd be a fool to not use Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program to put them in front of the biggest romantic fantasy audience there is.
That upsets some people. I get it, but it works best for me. There may come a day when I make print copies of my books available, but until then, it's Amazon.
@SJHoodlet Perhaps it helps you to know that those people being upset against you, would never be your readers!
They only suck your energy like vampyres. -
I would love to see more of my friends start using Mastodon. A number have gotten accounts, but they don't stay. They say there are two reasons:
1. It's a steep learning curve.
2. They feel they must pass multiple purity tests to be accepted.Not much can be done for those upset by the first one. But the second one, yeah, I see their point.
@joyce
I fully understand the Purity Test and it's not just in the publishing/ writing realm.
I occasionally feel that I can't fully express my feelings and opinions because of the norms in the community. In a way this is true of any gathering place, real life or online, but it seems somehow more acute here.
CW Content Warnings help to some extent but are an imperfect blunt tool.
It would help to have a more diverse (in every way) base of users - which comes back to your original post! -
@joyce one of the main barriers for my friends seems to be having to post to get anything back - I've realised that a lot of people like the experience of Meta and TikTok but not the ethics of it, whereas I dislike both so the Fediverse works well for me. If you wNt to use social media to talk to people the Fediverse works well, but there are a lot of people who just want to scroll social media passively without posting, and the Fediverse doesn't work so well for that because you have to post to find people to follow.
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@joyce one of the main barriers for my friends seems to be having to post to get anything back - I've realised that a lot of people like the experience of Meta and TikTok but not the ethics of it, whereas I dislike both so the Fediverse works well for me. If you wNt to use social media to talk to people the Fediverse works well, but there are a lot of people who just want to scroll social media passively without posting, and the Fediverse doesn't work so well for that because you have to post to find people to follow.
@joyce and to be clear that's a perfectly valid way to do social media. But trying to get more people on here has definitely shown me there is a type of person who sees social media as a way to talk to people, and a type who sees it like a book or a show to sit back and consume, and the Fediverse doesn't really work for the second type. Whereas ethical issues aside I don't really like Facebook or Instagram because they don't really work for the former anymore
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The way I understand it is that Mastodon originally had a huge population of outcasts. People who were harassed on other social media platforms created their own groups.
Furries, visually impaired, non-binary, autistic, etc carved their own niches. Compared to the rest of the Internet these groups were small and made their own rules to help their members. Content warnings when there's eye contact in a picture to help the autistic or when food is present to help the people with eating disorders became the norm.
The cool thing is as you say, you can curate your feed not to deal with those people or their rules.
I'd argue you should try to understand where many of them come from. Not all are shrieking Karens. Some of those rules came from a place of wanting to help others.
But yes. Some have become a bit militant and it's off putting.
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@NatureMC @joyce
My experience is not quite the same; the fedi police I encounter are from many demographics but definitely more female than male. I don't keep records though so I can't back that up.
Undoubtedly the people you describe do exist, but my experience makes me think the problem is broader than just that group, and each person's impression of who the guilty parties are may be different. -
@joyce For 1. I warmly recommend the wonderful @FediTips and their easy to understand guide: https://fedi.tips/
For 2: I also nearly deleted my account here several times because I'm so fed up of that typical #Mastodon purity police' and mansplainers.
But meanwhile, I feel angry enough to publicly shame and report/block them if they harass others. The more of us showing them a finger the more they could learn that they are not liked.The good news: our moderators are humans.
If anyone wants help with using this place, please feel free to ask. I am trying to provide an unofficial support service on here
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Thank you! It's really good to hear these guides and accounts are useful!
