Eubie Drew (QOTO 🦣) @EubieDrew@qoto.org

A few years ago I made this flow chart of which Mastodon posts end up in which timelines!

So, you can see how each instance will have a different local timeline, and even a slightly different federated timeline - and you can see why the federated timeline moves so much faster than the local one, too.

This is why it's important to boost good posts and use hashtags - the fediverse is fragmented and harder to search by nature.

[ #mastodon #meta #tootorial #howto #mastopedia #mastotip ]

Let’s try this again. Where you at #fediverse? Boosts welcome so we can get the best sample size.

The planets to scale in every way... plus dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto, the only two mapped dwarf planets.

The material from which all planets grew was orbiting the Sun. When growing planets attract this material, they get larger but also faster, as they also take on the material's momentum. That's why large planets like Jupiter are generally faster!

Pretty soon @TheConversationUS will have more followers on #mastodon after 9 days than we have accumulated on TikTok in 18 months.

Could you help us get to 1159 by boosting this toot and telling your friends about the work we do?

(We're a nonprofit news organization dedicated to sharing the knowledge of academic experts with the public)

https://theconversation.com/us/10-ways-we-are-different

ANNOUNCEMENT: If you're interested in having your Twitter Verified account verified for use in the fediverse ("Fedified"), please follow the instructions on this very short form: https://forms.gle/Ynzdwz39nHtxD1Li6

The response to the #Fedified program has been overwhelming, and I haven't slept for over a day. There are over 200 persons on the list already, and I'm getting DMs every few seconds. Thank you for your patience and for helping to combat misinformation

#TwitterMigration

Re @ianbogost's provocative essay, it's worth nothing that Twitter & Facebook are not fading because the users are running away but because they are run by incompetent leaders, one of them downright dastardly and stupid. Twitter, especially, enabled communities too long not heard in white mass media to have their space & connect at last. If Musk burns Twitter down & Zuck makes Meta meta, gone are the places where #BlackLivesMatter rose & George Floyd's murder was exposed.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/11/twitter-facebook-social-media-decline/672074/

I agree about moving past scale & argue the same is true of mass media, which is the source of the net's business model and corruption: the attention economy. Big, old media should hold its Schadenfreude at the fall of social media & examine its own roots in scale, attention, sensationalism, addiction, manipulation, division, & racism--all the things so-called social media is accused of.

Let's see what we can make next, perhaps here. I do not think we will move past wanting to connect with each other, converse, collaborate, and entertain each other. Mass media's monopoly is over. The culture can now speak for itself--with lessons learned about corporate centralization. We shall see. What follows is not up to the next tech or technologist but instead us.

honestly Jupiter same

"Mastodon Is 'Antiviral' Design"

My essay on this: https://clivethompson.medium.com/mastodon-is-antiviral-design-42f090ab8d51

Twitter (and most big social media) is laser-focused on creating virality -- i.e. training the joint attention of millions of people on one hot post/meme/story/event happening *right this instant* ... and doing it over and over and over again

Mastodon really isn't -- for lots of rich and interesting reasons

It's why some emigres from Twitter find Mastodon so baffling

This place embraces slowness and useful friction

Decided to look at network stats again. There are 1M more people using #Mastodon today than there were on October 27.

@varl42 Question: Is a science or scicomm specific instance preferred in order to have an already curated space for this type of content that interested parties can find. Or is it more of a fellow scicomm writer support space?

I’m reluctant to say this prematurely… but I have a feeling that the fever has broken. Many challenges ahead in the near and long term, but reality is starting to assert itself: election deniers, crypto, and Russia are all evidencing signs of collapse.

At some point, “manifesting” has to be backed up by facts. No lie lasts forever.

Discovering #SheepOfMastadon has made my day. This is Yoda, a orphan lamb I adopted when I first moved to #Shetland.
At first he was terrified of other sheep, running if they came near or trying to butt them with his tiny horns. Some older yowes from my neighbors flock were kind to him. Even when he didn't know how to respond they nuzzled and groomed him and slowly, he learned to be a #sheep and went to live with the flock.

Hi ppl (especially white ppl), sorry to call your attention again, but there's currently a lot of infighting here about a very particular topic:

Black people posting their (obviously bad) experiences with racism and not CW'ing them. Well, we SHOULD allow them to do that and here's why:

You first learned that the rule was to CW racism. Here's some news: That was the simple version. The full version is a little more complicated.

The thing about CWs is that they were created with vulnerable / marginalized communities in mind.

CWs help (some) autistic / neurodivergent folks avoid eye contact
CWs help Black ppl avoid racist content
CWs help people with eating disorders avoid food content
CWs help people who experienced school shootings avoid talk about school shootings

In other words, CWs were designed to protect marginalized communities from oppressive content.

That's the whole point.

The problem is when white people (even those belonging to one marginalized community) start policing Black people (a VERY marginalized community) about using content warnings.

Yes, rules were written for a reason, but unfortunately people put the rules in a pedestal and forget about the reason. (Don't confuse the Letter of the Law with the Spirit of the Law)

So what happens with racism is that it has practically become part of the daily life of Black people. Then they come here to vent about their problems, and suddenly they're harassed by racists (not necessarily Nazis, but your average white folks who are too full of themselves to notice when they're being racist - and unfortunately there's too many in here).

So they complain that there's racism in here.

Now imagine the ridiculousness of this.

The post: "Guys I was just harassed by white folks on here what's going on with all the racist bullshit?"

The replies (in droves):

"Please CW your shit don't you know the rules in here?"
"Hey, don't you read the rules? All racism content must be CW'd!"
"If you don't like our culture, find another server."
"CWs were created for a reason, you are warned."

... and so on, and on, and on, and on.

(and then you wonder why #BlackMastodon instances defederate from everyone)

And unfortunately because the language is too similar to what we've been doing for several days to white folks, we don't notice how racist this is when done to Black folks.

This is the place supposed to be welcoming for all, and our CW absolutism is turning it into a nightmare for Black people.

Add to that:

"Not all white people" (remember "not all men"?)
"I don't see racism in here"
"Have you tried using the block button?"
"You're exaggerating / overreacting"
"Oh we're so sorry that's awful in the name of everyone here" (this one is well intentioned but does absolutely nothing to solve the problem and gets tiring after the 10,000th time)

To summarize:

1) No, the Fediverse is NOT free from racism and we all need to work on that. And yes, casual racsm is a thing.

2) Racism can take many forms, and using CWs as an excuse to harass Black people is one of them and it happens A LOT.

3) Never, EVER tell a Black person that you don't see racism in your timeline or your server (have you ever taken sensitivity courses in your college?)

4) Black and Indigenous People of color, as well as other marginalized communities, ARE INDEED allowed to talk about racism and/or their personal experiences with oppression without Content Warnings, and ONLY members of the same marginalized community have the right to call them out on not using CWs. Are you part of that community? No? Suck it up.

If you're white (or otherwise non-Black but your personal experiences with racism are not as bad as the "offending" post), then no, you personally do NOT have the right to police Black people's posts.

See, when a BIPOC is talking in a convention about racism, you don't have permission to grab their microphone and say "Excuse me, but...". Do your part and don't add fuel to the fire.

5) If a particular disturbing experience of oppression told by a marginalized folk upsets you, feel free to temporarily mute. Don't like the reality you're living in as a privileged person who has never experienced racial oppression in their own flesh? Then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT instead of just burying your head in the sand. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

(And if you're offended by "Critical race theory" and think "the wokes" are out there to brainwash your kids making them feel guilty for being white or something, then YOU ARE THE PROBLEM and are in serious need of a dose of reality.)

6) Black folks are constantly harassed by racists in here, take that in mind when taking to them. Don't judge oppressed people for not being polite enough so you could "help them". Just listen to yourself.

7) Just because you belong to a marginalized community does NOT give you an excuse to oppress a different marginalized community. Autists can be racist, white trans folk can be racist, you get the point. DO NOT use your pride flag as a license to be an ass. Don't believe me? Look up "intersectionality". It'll blow your mind.

8) If a Black person tells you that something someone (especially a friend of yours) did is racism, IT IS RACISM. Period. Don't excuse the other person, don't tell them they're misinterpreting things, just... just don't. No questions. Just SHUT. UP. AND. LISTEN. When in doubt, apologize.

9) For the love of everything holy, if a BIPOC posts something and says "only BIPOC people can reply", if you're white, DO NOT REPLY! (double facepalm)

Racism, anti-Blackness in particular, is something that this place is not exempt of. As I said, casual racism is too common in here, and unfortunately it's not very visible to white folks because they're not the targets.

Everybody needs to cooperate.

Thank you.

(EDIT: Removed a couple of statements that were offending to non-black people who were also racially oppressed; that was not the intent of my post and I apologize)

#psa #antiBlackness #racism #onHere