So "X" - nothing to see here. Elon's in control - Part XXX **Threadbans in OP**

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119934619#Comment_119934619

Then the sane people sell out to a forty something memelord. Mastodon is the opportunity to change the game, so we won't have forty something memelords becoming billionaires by exploiting our information.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119934716#Comment_119934716

Problem is, decentralisation hasn't really shown itself especially popular with the mainstream; I went to join Mastodon and immediately hit the wall being asked what server I wanted to join. Even knowing that that's how it's run, and being tech-savvy, I chaffed and left the site 'cos I just didn't have the inclination to pick a server. God knows how the chronically technology-allergic would handle that.

People want simple: say what you will about Twitter but it's pretty straightforward in comparison. Mastodon obfuscates its own value, and that's always going to put up a barrier to its success. The great conundrum of tech is how do you maintain and run extremely expensive server space once you hit a certain volume of traffic? Either you monetise it like Twitter, or you try to decentralise it in some libertarian-style approach ala Mastodon. There has to be a 3rd way.

Cordell

Mastodon is IRC channels reborn, same crap same gatekeeping, you can't even have a peek before deciding to share your personal details so a mod will grant you access if and when their holiness decides. Yes I'm sure it will replace twitter any day now.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119934785#Comment_119934785

Truth Social runs on Mastodon so whilst that is a crap implementation it is possible for the Mastodon core to be used to create a single instance with a wider audience.

There is potential for there to be a significant consolidation around a few Mastodon instances , but who knows if/when that might happen.

The reality is that the "new Twitter" should it happen, will probably look/act nothing like the old Twitter.

The world moving to something completely different is a far more likely outcome than them shifting to a clone.

Cordell

will probably look/act nothing like the old Twitter

But it have to, how else will it attract the existing users? It needs to offer at least a similar user experience, not to be something completely foreign where you don't have any idea what to do.

Christy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119934039#Comment_119934039

Didn't seem to be what I wanted. However neither is twitter anymore so I just end up on neither.

Dohnjoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119934716#Comment_119934716

I dunno, I just think people are unlikely to flock in large numbers to a site with name like a dominatrix porn site. Yes some big entities will "reserve" something there "just in case", but it all seems a too bit chaotic in comparison.

As for the Twitter sale, the board ran out of options. Effectively they had to sell to someone who, in a u-turn, changed their mind on buying. The whole thing was a mess, but business acquisition is a juggernaut, once the process had started it was difficult for either party to get out of.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119934901#Comment_119934901

I know what you mean , but history in Social Media would suggest otherwise.

Facebook is declining rapidly but its users haven't moved to something that looks like Facebook - They've moved to Tiktok and Snapchat etc.

Who knows what the "next big thing" will be , but it almost certainly won't be a thing that looks very similar to the current "big thing"

The name is a huge stumbling block and certainly wasn’t dreamt up by Silicon Valley marketing types. It’s nothing like IRC channels though. I don’t really think that comparison does it much justice.

The big, well run instances are very solid.

I noticed some of the open source community are living in terror that Google or Apple will just come along, say “We love mastodon so much that we’re going to make our own client.” and the next thing it’ll be dominated by Apple Ping or something like that.

It’s a very likely scenario. That’s how many open source projects ultimately get rolled into a commercial project.

I mean, take the macOS, iOS etc they’re built on Darwin, a fork of BSD Unix, which Apple maintained as an open thing until it didn’t. Safari originated in KHTML and has cousins like Konqueror.

Google has similar history in Android and Chrome etc etc

*His Holiness the Meme Lord is actually 50-something. It can be a difficult age for some.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119934785#Comment_119934785

I am shocked and taken aback that you feel this way about one replacement of twitter

/end sarcasm.

I love Mastodon. My timeline has no ads, nobody is making me angry with quote retweets, the algorithm isn't posting awful anti-trans view on my timeline, oranti-refugee tweets, like twitter does.

My timeline is full of art, poetry, photography, jokes and most importantly, content wraps on anything that may be unsettling to some.

It's an absolute breath of fresh air.

Cordell

Well if stranger's words and views that don't agree with you can make you angry then maybe that's the place for you, fair play, I hope it all works out.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119935680#Comment_119935680

That sounds incredibly inane.

The Irish version of Mastodon is all jazz hands tbh.

Larbre34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119935733#Comment_119935733

Thats how twitter started.

Takes a while to build up a critical mass to drown out the w@nk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119935711#Comment_119935711

I will. Boards used to be friendlier like that til it was sold. I don't come on here half as much as I used to.

I, and many other neuro-divergent people, are also susceptible to emotional dysregulation, so, yes you're right, it does seem to be the place for me.

I will never understand why people feel the need for antagonism in all aspects of their lives to be honest. Don't we all strive for a more enjoyable life? I know some people enjoy the misery, it's just an attitude I don't understand.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119935733#Comment_119935733

What's inane about art, photography and poetry? Do you believe that culture itself lacks meaning? Or would you agree with Oscar Wilde that, "All art is quite useless"?

I'm beginning to think someone need to set up a Thumderdome instance for the argumentative types 😅

Cordell

Don't we all strive for a more enjoyable life?

Some people are arseholes. Some people just have opinions and they feel the need to air them no matter what. Neither former or later should be prevented from doing so, because when we start to regulate what people can say to such a degree we actually make life less enjoyable for pretty much everyone.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119936007#Comment_119936007

Isn't ironic that you feel that way, while twitter were banning people for being mean about Musk?

Everyone regulates their speech according to where you are. I'm sure you don't talk the same way, say in the pub as you would in a business meeting? It's the mature, responsible way to act.

I prefer Mastodon, because while you and I may be connected or not, I have far more tools at my disposal to choose how much of your presence I can see. Temporary muting someone is a game changer during something like Strictly, for example.

Am I asking people to stop posting about Strictly? No, they can toot to their hearts content, but I can filter it out .

I think that's a far better system than foisting posts on people.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119935006#Comment_119935006

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119934757#Comment_119934757

The transition is already happening in large numbers. You can get in now, or you can wait until your granny tells you about it.

Dohnjoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119936102#Comment_119936102

Not really. If that's the best alternative to Twitter then there's a serious market gap.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119932747#Comment_119932747

We had one here in Ireland. He was called Sean Quinn.

Quite simply he cannot make money out of Twitter. First there is three structures to the money he put into Twitter. A bit less than 1/3 was debt added into the company I think 12-14 billion.

The next is a few super wealthy individuals and the Saudi Sovereign wealth fund put in about 5 Billion.

The smartest man in the world put up 20 billion. This and the Saudi/wealthy individuals is outside the company. The banks being the banks have first call on any value in Twitter.

At this stage it looks like even the banks may not get there money back. It will take a very fortunate run of events at present for Musk to see anything back of his own personal investment

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119936102#Comment_119936102

We'll see. These alternative apps can get bumps that go nowhere. Remember Vero? The Instagram killer?

Dohnjoe

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/29/tech/twitter-covid-misinformation-policy/index.html

Twitter no long enforcing Covid misinformation policy

The telling part: "On a Tesla earnings call with Wall Street analysts in April 2020, Musk went off script to rail against Covid policies. “I would call it, ‘forcibly imprisoning people in their homes’ against all their Constitutional rights, in my opinion, and breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why people came to America or built this country,” Musk said on the call. “It’s an outrage.”

Once again, something happens at the new Twitter which is coincidentally in line with Elon's own views and selective interpretations of free speech.

McFly85

The xkcd on free speech sums it up pretty well:

The idea that people being banned for airing their opinions while being total arseholes to others is some sort of threat to free speech is utter nonsense.

Twitter has allowed people to post their opinions, virtually any opinions, without censorship, as long as it’s done in a respectful manner(and this moderation only really applies to high traffic accounts with multiple instances of policy breaches required before anything happens).

If you have had your account suspended and think it’s just for posting your opinions, then you need to take a long hard look at yourself.

Dyr

Great to see people siding with a company that has a yen for slave labour and is helping a dictatorship crack down on protests.

The people who think that they're on the right side of history. Absolutely mental

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119936452#Comment_119936452

He annoys lefties.

That's all the justification some people need.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119936493#Comment_119936493

Who's siding with Apple anyway? It's always effin' factions with these people, anything to validate this anti woke/lefty tedium.

one armed dwarf

Considering Musk has opened a Tesla showroom in the region where Uighur minorities are being persecuted he himself is not quite a champion for human rights either

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/tesla-criticised-opening-showroom-chinas-xinjiang-region-2022-01-04/

All I would say is if you are going to make a move to somewhere like Mastodon, open a presence there now and start re-connecting with your Twitter followers. I would suspect that he's probably going to just close the APIs or the ability to download your data.

You might as well have one foot in either place.

kowloon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119936452#Comment_119936452

Are people actually siding with Apple, or do they just know that Musk has picked a fight with a bigger dog? If Foxconn's suicide netting didn't seriously hit Apple's bottom line I'm not sure picking on a poor defenceless man-child billionaire is going to tug at people's heartstrings.