@BlackAzizAnansi I don't resonate well here because there is an overload of academic and tech geekery, combined with a certain type of know it all ism and condescension.
CounterSocial is LIVE and lively, with a great black hashtag community. Tribel is small, but laid back.
We all must admit that Twitter was so much loved because of the broad spectrum of interests and expertise. Countersocial isn't the vibe.
@QueenPhilippa @BlackAzizAnansi This is the first I'm hearing of any condescending behaviour here, what I have experienced is helpful and kind interactions.
I only hope to see Mastodon grow even more and help people find great communities, without an overbearing algorithm that boosts rage and misinformarion!
The most common complaint has been about tone policing. You use words like kind, helpful, not overbearing, not boosting rage. This was very much the cultural norm here before the bird thing. Unfortunately when Black Twitter began to test the waters of Mastodon by sharing their experience in ways that felt natural, there was push back that they were not being kind, or helpful, that they were angry and overbearing -- and generally that they should not be ruining the polite cultural vibe that the existing users had created.
@antares @QueenPhilippa @BlackAzizAnansi
I see. I appreciate the perspective!
That's rather sad to hear. Not everyone has the capacity or energy to be helpful, and that's fine.
As long as no one is being hateful or blatantly rude I don't see the problem.
Rather shitty to hear there was any sort of pushback.
Still pretty new here and never really used Twitter but I will keep my eyes open.
Thank you for your reply.
@boisterousbard @antares @QueenPhilippa @BlackAzizAnansi
I came with the first wave of Twitterers back in May.
My feeling was that the groups over-represented here compared to Twitter were continental europeans, and nerds, autists etc. All of these speak "common English" as 2. language.
To us, "overkindness" is a way to get past cultural assumptions.
½
@boisterousbard @antares @QueenPhilippa @BlackAzizAnansi
To native speakers with a irl-community (that is to say: not nerds/autists) the rules of interaction have always worked "for" them.
In an international setting (and studies show) this results in non-natives doing nonshared invisible work to compensate, while being looked down as outsiders.
Example: Natives seldom list their general location, languages, or education; often using the fields as jokes.
2/2
@iju @boisterousbard @antares @QueenPhilippa @BlackAzizAnansi Also the gender field. I'm not necessarily against or upset by it, but using the gender field to claim that you have no pronouns or that you identify as an attack helicopter doesn't imply any sort of desire to be respectful towards the groups who really benefit from them (which is pretty much anyone who isn't a cismale).
@Raccoon I'm assuming that this is directed at my pronouns field.
I do have a regular set of pronouns that I use IRL, and a real name as well, but I have found that my interactions on social media are much better if I keep details like race, gender, ethnicity, etc private.
On the Other Site I simply didn't list pronouns, but found that on Mastodon choosing not to do so lead to a certain set of assumptions about how I would treat LGBTQ+ people so I found a way to acknowledge and support the sharing of pronouns while keeping mine anonymous.
I completely understand those who don't want to interact with anonymous accounts, but I don't think that can be said of one using the handle Rockstar Racoon.
@antares Actually, no, I didn't look at your profile.
I was responding to @iju saying that non-marginalized people tend to be the ones who use their fields as jokes. People who aren't used to having their pronouns misgendered don't really appreciate that field, hence why some people have defaulted to they/them (and sometimes she/her) for strangers on the internet, just to not assume male.
On the "Other Site", my current pronouns are "Masto/Don".