Curmudgeon @Curmudgeon@qoto.org

It feels like Mastodon is one really great third-party client away from being mainstream-ready, on the UX front at least.
The same thing happened with Twitter years ago: Third-party apps like DestroyTwitter, Tweetie (which became Twitter for iPhone), and Tweetbot helped redefine the mainstream UX of the service, in a hugely positive way. (Until Twitter shut a lot of them down, anyway, but that’s a different story…)

The @ivory Mastodon client is exactly what I was expecting from Tapbots, and exactly what Mastodon needs to viably replace the Twitter client experience. Even in early beta, it’s excellent.

Shorter Matt Taibbi:

1. Tech workers give more money to Democrats.

2. Politicians complain about tweets.

3. Twitter put a warning on Kayleigh McEnany's tweet about Hunter Biden's laptop but no government agent asked them to.

4. They feared the laptop might have been hacked but they then debated whether to lift the warning.

#matttaibbi #elonmusk #twitter #hunterbidenslaptop

Hello Mastodon crowd. I don't know if there are other Financial Times people here. But I am here thanks to @jeffjarvis and @leolaporte on @twit.social.

#throwbackthursday for #geeks

Here's your irregular reminder that:

Twitter was a multi-billion dollar company with thousands of employees.

Mastodon is a niche hobbyist product run by volunteers

The fact that we're being seen as a viable alternative to them is an admission that a federated, decentralized future is not only possible, but desirable.

Mastodon is not one thing, or one place. It's a network of many things and many places. We don't have a spokesperson (I mean, there's me. I'm the official spokesperson for 💯 of the fediverse, but beyond me there is no spokesperson) we don't have consensus on moderation or blocking or tools or what is good and what is bad. Some of us are professional SREs and Sysadmins, some of us aren't. Some of our instances have been around for 5+ years, some won't be here in six months.

And that's good! All of it, every last bit of it is good.

We're wrestling power away from the billionaire class, in real time, and reclaiming it for the People.

🎂 It’s hard for me to admit it. But I need your help. Please follow my soon-to-premier podcast #BookedUp and listen to our trailer.

Let’s prove that I don’t need to be on Twitter to promote the inaugural episode that drops on my birthday — December 4. First guest is Dahlia Lithwick who will talk about LADY JUSTICE, chaos muppets, bobbins, and wearing Ax body spray.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/booked-up-with-jen-taub/id1651929984?i=1000584153904

I feel like part of what we’re experiencing in this country, and really in a lot of countries, is the collapse of identity, which in the U.S. used to be rooted in a white, Christian-centered worldview that only had to account for other people when it came to sports and entertainment. The majority now has to cope with the reality of growing political and social equality, and the attendant demands to expand the notion of national history and identity. Some folks are taking it hard.

.@elonmusk@twitter.com is the wealthiest person in the world and owns Twitter, one of the most powerful communications platforms in the world

He is also ATROCIOUSLY UNINFORMED

🧵

I should share that I was an advisor briefly to Post.news, asked to put together an advisory board. I withdrew for various reasons -- disagreement about another advisor and about federation -- and have no ties to it now. I received nothing. I like Noam, its founder, and respect his work (Waze!). I'll watch Post. But I'm much more engaged here and want to study and learn about the potential of federation -- ActivityPub, Bluesky, Scuttlebutt -- as a model for public discourse.

My take on Musk's trajectory over the last four weeks. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/elon-musk-and-the-narcissism-radicalization-maelstrom/sharetoken/Zs4zc5BXA9Et

Some #fintwit and #econtwit people who are already on #Mastodon:

@pkrugman
@rbreich
@nntaleb
@jburnmurdoch
@TimHarford
@drodrik
@adamtooze
@adamdavidson
@jasonfurman
@moorehn
@anthony
@katie_martin_fx
@ObsoleteDogma
@molly0xfff
@scottjshapiro
@Frances_Coppola
@jdportes
@delong
@bennpeifert
@DavidHenig

#finance
#markets
#economics

1/

A rich guy with a bruised ego shouldn’t have the power to disrupt your life online. Building an interoperable social media could cut them out of the equation. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/fediverse-could-be-awesome-if-we-dont-screw-it

Inviting Trump back is an effort to get in business with the site’s main inciter. It will make people mad, and other people gleeful, even if he never tweets again, and that gets them engaged. And if he does start tweeting again, well, the old engagement machine is back in business. 3/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/22/republicans-afraid-trump-presidential-contenders-2024/

A New York Times article about journa.host. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/21/style/mastodon-twitter-adam-davidson.html

Hey everyone, I've put together a little wiki page that aggregates links on:
• How to Use Mastodon
• Tools for Leaving Twitter
• Lists of People on Twitter by Interest, Recommendation, or Verification
• Data About Mastodon

https://github.com/DanielSchuman/Policy/wiki/Mastodon

Is this thing on? 🤣

I don’t understand why people think Mastodon is difficult. It seems pretty straightforward, and the separate servers are no biggie. I’m enjoying this fresh start here, like moving to a new apartment!