Twitter likely to take idiots offer to buy them for $43 billion

[lpetrich]

Unfortunately, Mastodon’s decentralization also means it can be repurposed by anyone for any reason. In 2019, the white supremacist social network Gab started using a version of Mastodon’s free software. Mastodon’s team couldn’t prevent Gab from doing so, but many of the largest Mastodon servers defederated the Gab servers, so that they wouldn’t be able to interact. Mastodon’s code has also been used to power Trump’s social network, Truth Social.

Then on how Mastodon is difficult to fund. Finally,

But perhaps the real reason it’s hard to beat Twitter is simply because it’s just where everyone is. Paris Marx, a vocal big tech critic and host of the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast, said he has tried Mastodon but couldn’t find much of an audience, unlike Twitter, where he has 35,000 followers and writes posts that often go viral.

“It’s still an influential social media platform. And there’s not there’s not a real equivalent to it, and so people who are interested in what Twitter offers, you know, are kind of stuck here,” he said.

Unable to quit, he does the next best thing: “I block accounts that serve me ads. I don’t pay for things like Twitter Blue,” he said. “I try to make sure that I’m not too financially lucrative for them.”

So Elon Musk risks killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.

 

[lpetrich]

With Twitter in chaos, Mastodon is on fire | CNN Business

There may be no clear alternative to Twitter, a uniquely influential platform that is fast-moving, text-heavy, conversational and news-oriented. But Mastodon scratches a certain itch. The service has a similar look to Twitter, with a timeline of short updates sorted chronologically rather than algorithmically. It lets users join a slew of different servers run by various groups and individuals, rather than one central platform controlled by a single company like Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Unlike larger social networks, Mastodon is both free to use and free of ads. It’s operated by a nonprofit run by Mastodon creator Eugen Rochko, and is supported via crowdfunding.

Then, "Who’s joining Mastodon?"

Mastodon’s new sign-ups include some Twitter users with big followings, such as actor and comedian Kathy Griffin, who joined in early November, and journalist Molly Jong-Fast, who joined in late October.

Sarah T. Roberts, an associate professor at UCLA and faculty director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, started using Mastodon in earnest on October 30, just after Musk took over Twitter. (She had created another account years ago, she said, but didn’t really get into it until recently because of the popularity of Twitter among people in academia.)

 

[lpetrich]

Mastodon - Decentralized social media - a site called joinmastodon.org

Explore - Mastodon

Like this:
sтυx: "It’s really sad for people who…" - Mastodon

It’s really sad for people who lost their trusted online home in #Twitter with the Musk takeover. He really shows who he is now by firing half the staff blindly, he simply doesn’t care about the human aspect.

Try to see it positive since now you have discovered a place that’s as much as fun and probably even more! We may not have the numbers but we make up for that by kindness and interaction with each other

A social network is not defined by its numbers but by its community :blobcathug:

 

[Colonel Sanders]

The anguish Elon Musk elicits from some quarters is fascinating. Here’s a guy, trying to save the planet and people are rounding on him like he has just pissed in their corn flakes.

It is strange. He's done some great things. The internet has allowed the pants-shitting shrill to metastasize into these little groups that subsequently have an outsized voice (see the anti J.K. Rowling crowd).

At the same time though, why would Musk give the slightest two shits about people like that? This transformation from super-rich kid wanting to do good to cartoon super villain is just weird. How does someone with so much wealth have such thin skin? Did no one ever tell him that not everyone is going to like him all the time and that's just part of life, especially when it comes to being a celebrity?

Musk thin skinned?! LOL!! So many precious snowflakes are losing their shit and throwing their toys out the pram, waaaaaa!! It's hilarious that people people get so worked up about it but it is weird.

His reaction to these powerless screaming meemies is more like that of a tantrum throwing toddler than a grown man. It would be funny if he weren't on the verge of re-platforming the most prolific drooling self-centered sack of human skin stuffed with shit in American history along with those who support that thing.

Oh my, the TDS is strong in this one.

I'll admit I do have an aversion to anti-intellectual ghouls who con the Stupid out of their money and would install themselves as monarch.

As for Musk, and pardon the following expression, but god-damn, what an enormous pussy he's turned out to be. Some college kids say mean things and that's his villain origin story? It's not like Obama accidentally killed his parents in a bombing raid or something.

I guess that's the prevalent theme for the super billionaire/right wing/fascist boiling pot of sewage that Musk finds himself in though; quite able to run his mouth, screams like a pansy when there's any blowback.

My cat tries to scare me away from my plate when there's bacon on it. The little bastard actually paws and hisses at me. Musky Trump's reaction would apparently be to call the police, have it shackled, and then tortured before killing it. I guess I'm not man enough to do that. Through effort I would describe as less than superhuman, I'm able to just kind of ignore him.

 

[Jayjay]

I don't get the knee jerk reaction against Musk. But if it leads to federated service like mastodon gaining critical mass, great. We need to get rid of our single-company controlled networks and replace them with distributed systems.

At the moment, the technology and economic incentives aren't quite there yet though. Joining mastodon or searching stuff in there seems too difficult for regular joe at the moment.

 

[TSwizzle]

The anguish Elon Musk elicits from some quarters is fascinating. Here’s a guy, trying to save the planet and people are rounding on him like he has just pissed in their corn flakes.

It is strange. He's done some great things. The internet has allowed the pants-shitting shrill to metastasize into these little groups that subsequently have an outsized voice (see the anti J.K. Rowling crowd).

At the same time though, why would Musk give the slightest two shits about people like that? This transformation from super-rich kid wanting to do good to cartoon super villain is just weird. How does someone with so much wealth have such thin skin? Did no one ever tell him that not everyone is going to like him all the time and that's just part of life, especially when it comes to being a celebrity?

Musk thin skinned?! LOL!! So many precious snowflakes are losing their shit and throwing their toys out the pram, waaaaaa!! It's hilarious that people people get so worked up about it but it is weird.

His reaction to these powerless screaming meemies is more like that of a tantrum throwing toddler than a grown man. It would be funny if he weren't on the verge of re-platforming the most prolific drooling self-centered sack of human skin stuffed with shit in American history along with those who support that thing.

Oh my, the TDS is strong in this one.

As for Musk, and pardon the following expression, but god-damn, what an enormous pussy he's turned out to be. Some college kids say mean things and that's his villain origin story? It's not like Obama accidentally killed his parents in a bombing raid or something.

I see, when Trump puts out mean tweets they need to be censored but when college kids do it, it’s ok. I’m just trying to figure out the rules but it’s starting to get a bit clearer.

I guess that's the prevalent theme for the super billionaire/right wing/fascist boiling pot of sewage that Musk finds himself in though; quite able to run his mouth, screams like a pansy when there's any blowback.

It’s that right?

My cat tries to scare me away from my plate when there's bacon on it. The little bastard actually paws and hisses at me. Musky Trump's reaction would apparently be to call the police, have it shackled, and then tortured before killing it. I guess I'm not man enough to do that. Through effort I would describe as less than superhuman, I'm able to just kind of ignore him.

Put your cat down.

 

[TV and credit cards]

.

The anguish Elon Musk elicits from some quarters is fascinating. Here’s a guy, trying to save the planet and people are rounding on him like he has just pissed in their corn flakes.

Doing a good thing doesn't make you a hero in all contexts. Doing a bad thing doesn't make you a villain in all contexts. Doing a good thing should not make you immune from criticism, nor does criticizing someone imply that you are no longer giving them credit for the good thing they did. People over the mental age of six tend to understand this.

In reality, "one aw shit wipes out a whole lot of atta boys". Or even the accusation of an aw shit. Just ask Al Franken. People don't pay attention to the good a person does nearly as much as the mistakes they've made. Drive an industry to change, resurrect another, provide *free internet for a nation under attack from its neighbor probably saving thousands of lives in the process. Nah. Musk didn't do that either. These are good things. These are all very good things. And what do people cling to: socially dysfunctional billionaire buys social media company and he may be fucking it up. We'll see. He hasn't done anything evil yet but lets not let that stop us from billionaire bashing.
Tell me again about those six year olds?

* I think he's still footing the bill.

 

[bilby]

His reaction to these powerless screaming meemies is more like that of a tantrum throwing toddler than a grown man.

This is a common trait amongst people who were raised without the slightest risk of hardship, in a family with no financial difficulties that might force them to be denied anything.

Some wealthy parents make a concerted effort to deny unearned privileges to their children, but even in those rare cases, it's often ineffective.

 

[bilby]

I don't get the knee jerk reaction against Musk. But if it leads to federated service like mastodon gaining critical mass, great. We need to get rid of our single-company controlled networks and replace them with distributed systems.

At the moment, the technology and economic incentives aren't quite there yet though. Joining mastodon or searching stuff in there seems too difficult for regular joe at the moment.

I am still struggling to see any value in social media.

Facebook was the exception, in that it provided an easy way to remain in contact with family and friends, who in my case are mostly on the opposite side of the planet; But that benefit is far smaller for most users, whose friends and family tend to be less remote, and even in my extreme case, it wasn't sufficient to prevent me from bailing on a "community" with arbitrarily applied and unappealable rules, which punish the blameless, while being simultaneously ineffective against genuine transgressions.

Why would I want to "tweet" or "toot"? Why would I want to read such emanations from strangers?

The only tweets I see are those posted here on IIDB, and their one universal trait is that they're uninteresting. The opinions of celebrities and other strangers are irrelevant to me; The opinions of people whose actions can impact my own situation (eg people in political office, employers or prospective employers, local businesses and service providers, etc.) all have better, more focused, and more robust ways to gain my attention.

Social media is about as useful as joining together all my wristwatches to make a belt.

 

[bilby]

I see, when Trump puts out mean tweets they need to be censored but when college kids do it, it’s ok.

Pretty much. It's pointless and unnecessary to censor something that everyone is going to ignore anyway.

When someone lies, the damage done is proportional to the number of people who will hear and believe that lie. So it's more important to block access when an influential person with millions of slavish cult members followers tells a lie than it is when some jerk nobody's heard of does the same.

I am bemused (but sadly not surprised) that this isn't bleeding obvious to you.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

I see, when Trump puts out mean tweets they need to be censored but when college kids do it, it’s ok.

Pretty much. It's pointless and unnecessary to censor something that everyone is going to ignore anyway.

When someone lies, the damage done is proportional to the number of people who will hear and believe that lie. So it's more important to block access when an influential person with millions of slavish cult members followers tells a lie than it is when some jerk nobody's heard of does the same.

I am bemused (but sadly not surprised) that this isn't bleeding obvious to you.

This is why I don't engage at length with Trumpites for anything more than a quick minute.

If someone is so lacking in intellect that they can't grasp the difference in power and influence between a POTUS and some pissed off 19 year old, then it's like communicating with an advanced Alzheimer's patient in a deep fugue state. Either that or they know exactly what they're doing. They exist to try and push buttons and throw shit at you. It's all in bad faith. They're simply not worth engaging seriously.

 

[lpetrich]

The anguish Elon Musk elicits from some quarters is fascinating. Here’s a guy, trying to save the planet and people are rounding on him like he has just pissed in their corn flakes.

Own-the-libs gloating. Should I have expected anything more?

 

[ZiprHead]

His reaction to these powerless screaming meemies is more like that of a tantrum throwing toddler than a grown man.

This is a common trait amongst people who were raised without the slightest risk of hardship, in a family with no financial difficulties that might force them to be denied anything.

Some wealthy parents make a concerted effort to deny unearned privileges to their children, but even in those rare cases, it's often ineffective.

"I WANT A G WAGON!!!"

 

[lpetrich]

Mastodon? What's in a name?  Mastodon ("nipple tooth") was an extinct elephant that lived in the forests of North and Central America for the last 5 million years, but were killed off in a mass extinction of megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch. Their ancestors parted ways from the ancestors of the present-day elephants some 24 million years ago, near the end of the Oligocene Epoch.

The Nat | Mastodon - average shoulder height: male 3 m / 10 ft, female 2 m / 7 ft, roughly comparable to present-day Asian elephants.

They should not be confused with the woolly mammoth, another elephant species that also went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene. Mammoths branched off about when African and Asian elephants branched off from each other, about 5 -6 million years ago, at the end of the Miocene Epoch, and they were somewhat closer to Asian ones than African ones.


 Mastodon (band) is a heavy-metal band from Atlanta GA that was formed in 2000.


 Mastodon (software) - about the social-network software. It was created by German developer  Eugen Rochko

 Comparison of microblogging and similar services - compares Twitter, Mastodon, and the like.

 

[lpetrich]

Mastodon is part of the  Fediverse of social-networking sites. Uses protocols

•  ActivityPub
•  Diaspora (social network) protocol
•  OStatus - predecessor of ActivityPub

Members include

•  Mastodon (software) - Twitter-like microblogging
•  Friendica - Facebook-like social networking
•  [Diaspora (social network)/wiki] - Facebook-like [*][wiki]Nextcloud - file hosting
•  Pixelfed - Instagram-like picture hosting
•  PeerTube - YouTube-like video hosting
•  Pump.io - (not sure)

 

[Swammerdami]

I thought I linked to this news story yesterday; but apparently it got lost dueing one of my laptop crashes.

The Twitter take-over and Elon Musk's petulant revenge of mass firings might seem like just another amusing/disgusting paradigm of post-rational hypercapitalism.

BUT, this close to important elections, these major changes at Twitter — the entire curation team is gone, along with other major changes, rampant lying is now encouraged — could have a profound effect on the results of those elections. This is profoundly sad and dissettling.

 

[ZiprHead]

I thought I linked to this news story yesterday; but apparently it got lost dueing one of my laptop crashes.

The Twitter take-over and Elon Musk's petulant revenge of mass firings might seem like just another amusing/disgusting paradigm of post-rational hypercapitalism.

BUT, this close to important elections, these major changes at Twitter — the entire curation team is gone, along with other major changes, rampant lying is now encouraged — could have a profound effect on the results of those elections. This is profoundly sad and dissettling.

Rampant lying was occurring before Musk took over. I follow Cruz, Boebert, MTG, and a few others just to watch their lies.

 

[Elixir]

 

[Politesse]

An "invisible hand" didn't just fire 800 people over personal ideological differences with their new boss...

 

[TSwizzle]

Elon Musk's cost-cutting plans may have left hundreds of Twitter employees on high-skill work visas on a countdown to deportation.
At least 250 Twitter workers appear to be employed on a H-1B visa, according to official records and now face an uncertain future. And according to analysis of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data by the National Foundation for American Policy, that number could be as high as 670, or 8% of the company pre-cuts, Forbes reported.

yahoo

670 H-1B visas getting emptied. B2B