Dave (he/him) @RagudMezegis@qoto.org

as someone who works in social media both on a personal and a corporate side, i was devastated to see what has happening to the birdsite. i spent entire days in the bowels of twitter. i went from around 4k followers to 10k in less than a month. all that work... gone in an instant.

but.

i engineered that entire following. It was the least "organic" thing ever. it was full of follow for follow marketing bots that I never saw or cared about. my feed was curated to interact with other large follower accounts. got in with a bunch of other people like me who just wanted to feel important on the internet.

i had curated a perfectly pRoFeSsIoNaL persona. no cursing. no politics. just enough personal info to know i was a real person, but not enough to actually get to know me.

and you know what? it worked. i started getting called for interviews on podcasts and magazines and shit, just because of a number. people who say follower count doesn't matter either has a ton of followers or haven't ever experienced how many opportunities can arise from that inane number we know as "follower count."

i got so many amazing experiences. met a lot of really cool people too.

but.

it's exhausting living that way.

it's exhausting spending a large portion of your time literally pretending to be someone you're not. (and this is coming from an actress too 👀​) a version of yourself who is close to you but only the fake parts.

when i made the migration, i vowed social media was gonna be for me again. of course the corporate stuff will always be there, but my personal accounts are entirely for my enjoyment now, and it's so freeing. i know if someone is following me on here, it's bc they like *me* for who i am, and not some creation of myself.

have a good night, y'all 😘​

Short rant.

Southwest Air has cancelled ~70% of its flights in an epic meltdown this holiday season.

Remember, Southwest took $3.7B in federal aid from 2020-21.

It’s CEO got a pay raise to a $9.1M package in 2022.

Yet Southwest employees are working 16 hour shifts & threatened w/termination if they refuse overtime or call in sick.

Socialism for the wealthy. Capitalism for workers.

Stop trusting billionaires. Start holding them accountable. And start protecting workers.

End Rant.

When I started my freelancing business with #PHP and #WordPress I hung this up on my office wall too.

Some men learn that women want to "feel safe" around us and take that as "women want a beefy special forces type" and don't realize they just don't want to feel like we might hurt them someday.

There's so much focus on being "manly" in some "not great" ways but that's missing the point.

What they want are signs that we won't eventually become emotionally/financially/physically abusive.

Signs we're emotionally mature and have good communication skills.

Not Rambo.

Please read this! https://catvalente.substack.com/p/stop-talking-to-each-other-and-start

Actual conversation I had…

Me: Billionaire philanthropy is nothing more than PR. Tax billionaires.
Troll: Lol you trust the Govt to spend our money?
Me: Yes, the Govt is elected by We the People, and therefore is accountable to us and can be voted out.
Troll: Govt is bought.
Me: Bought by who?
Troll: By billionai—...😳
Me: ...🤔
Troll: Ok, Tax billionaires.

Give her what she really wants this holiday season. Death to the patriarchy, an ancient tome of curses from the forest witch, the hearts of her enemies, and deep pockets in every dress and pair of pants.

#success #twittermigration #twitterexodus #Mastodon #inspiration

Nice little Pisces C8R taking me to watch the sunrise.

#starcitizen

Especially our peeps from Trek Twitter seem to be having trouble finding others from other servers, so how about we make this a #StarTrek roll call post, where everybody reply with a 🖖🏻 or something similar, so others can see and find you. And please make sure to boost the heck out of this.