Today, one of the biggest things on the social internet happened, with Elon Musk buying Twitter. So here's a little reminder of Mastodon. Not our usual news, but it's too big to be ignored. Twitter is a massive and important platform and now it's going to be wholly owned by Elon Musk. Regardless of your thoughts on Musk, it's still a little alarming.
Good news for those who do dislike Musk, as there is a great alternative available with Mastodon. Not perfect, nothing is, but it is a good option to try. It's very much like Twitter except it's free, open source, has no adverts and anyone can host their own instance. Thanks to how it's designed, people can follow and talk to each other across these instances too.
GamingOnLinux is on Mastodon, so feel free to give us a follow. If you don't care about this whole thing, you can also follow us on Twitter.
From the Press Release:
Bret Taylor, Twitter's Independent Board Chair, said, "The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon's proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders."
Parag Agrawal, Twitter's CEO, said, "Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important."
"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," said Mr. Musk. "I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."
It will be interesting to see if Musk does open up more of Twitter.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: WMan22I just simply personally believe that when it comes to software projects that are unrelated to politics, politics should be quarantined as far away from it as possible unless the project is specifically and explicitly made to cover a political topic, since trouble brews in politics' wake that can damage or outright kill an otherwise perfectly functional thing that didn't need to die or become a source of stress due to unrelated IRL stuff.
This sounds good, but I deem it impossible. Inside Debian, there's been discussions if the Taiwanese flag should be part of the some country choosing dialogue. You can have trans or non-binary persons anywhere, and then people who like to use personal pronouns that those spoken to deem wrong. Have a weather forecast with coloured countries, what colour to give Crimea. The list goes on. There's no big space without politics.
Last edited by Eike on 26 April 2022 at 1:21 pm UTC
Quoting: EikeThis sounds good, but I deem it impossible. Inside Debian, there's been discussions if the Taiwanese flag should be part of the some country choosing dialogue. You can have trans or non-binary persons anywhere, and then people who like to use personal pronouns that those spoken to deem wrong. Have a weather forecast with coloured countries, what colour to give Crimea. The list goes on. There's no big space without politics.The text you quoted has a "as far away as possible" in it.
Obviously it's not always possible.
But it is possible in the vast majority of cases.
And it is certainly possible without dragging politics into something that aren't even related to the thing at hand (this is what pseudo-gaming sites like Kotaku do non-stop).
Quoting: llortonIf it's really Free speech™, I am looking forward to all the racial slurs, misinformation, and other nice things to be the main discourse on Twitter.Hardly.
But even that would be better that than some sanitized variant where people talk to each other like they are walking on eggshells, on the constant brink of a mental breakdown.
Slurs can be ignored or laughed at (as in laughing at the fool who used them), misinformation can be corrected and challenged by facts. But at least it can all happen out in the open, and not some "safe space" for those who can only exist in echo chambers...
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 26 April 2022 at 2:02 pm UTC
Mountain Man Apr 26, 2022
Quoting: llortonIf it's really Free speech™, I am looking forward to all the racial slurs, misinformation, and other nice things to be the main discourse on Twitter.Frankly, if people are too stupid to be able discern the good from the bad in what they read, then they shouldn't even be on the internet in the first place. This idea that we need media companies to "protect" us is a large part of the problem.
Quoting: Mountain ManQuoting: llortonIf it's really Free speech™, I am looking forward to all the racial slurs, misinformation, and other nice things to be the main discourse on Twitter.Frankly, if people are too stupid to be able discern the good from the bad in what they read, then they shouldn't even be on the internet in the first place.
Many are not. So, what to do, keep them out of the net?
Quoting: Mountain ManThis idea that we need media companies to "protect" us is a large part of the problem.
We need facts against FUD.
Quoting: TheSHEEEPBut even that would be better that than some sanitized variant where people talk to each other like they are walking on eggshells, on the constant brink of a mental breakdown.
Slurs can be ignored or laughed at (as in laughing at the fool who used them), misinformation can be corrected and challenged by facts. But at least it can all happen out in the open, and not some "safe space" for those who can only exist in echo chambers...
Quoting: Mountain ManFrankly, if people are too stupid to be able discern the good from the bad in what they read, then they shouldn't even be on the internet in the first place. This idea that we need media companies to "protect" us is a large part of the problem.I count on both of you to spend time on Twitter to educate people and fight misinformation. Otherwise it will keep spreading.
Myself, I have no time to talk to walls and trolls.
Quoting: llortonI count on both of you to spend time on Twitter to educate people and fight misinformation. Otherwise it will keep spreading.
I do that on Facebook from time to time, but it's really exhausting.
Quoting: EikeQuoting: llortonI count on both of you to spend time on Twitter to educate people and fight misinformation. Otherwise it will keep spreading.
I do that on Facebook from time to time, but it's really exhausting.
Yeah the unfortunate reality is that it only takes seconds to create bullshit and much longer than that to clear it up.
Quoting: TheSHEEEPCould your remarkable envy and irrational hate of people who are capable of managing money be any more obvious?
It's amazing how well all the people born into generational wealth can manage money even after stupid failure after stupid failure. It's almost like having lots of money makes it easier to buy speech and representation under capitalism which can be used to get money easier...
Things like Hate Speech laws that exist here in Canada, *definitely* in Germany and the EU. "We're a private company, now" doesn't shield you from that. Those are big advertising markets he could find himself locked out of if he antagonizes them by letting Twitter degenerate into a free-for-all, because let's be honest, here: the 'free speech' being championed, even if it doesn't purport to be, on the surface, invariably becomes a vehicle for hate of anyone 'other'.
Not that I agree with the way Twitter's handled it up to now (again, ditched for Mastodon years ago), but there's definitely the paradox of tolerance to watch out for. There is a reason most non-US democracies have moved to protect their minority groups in law.
But hey, Musk just *loves* getting in trouble with the law, repeatedly, it seems, so yeah - the irony of everyone talking about 'echo chambers' is that's exactly what Twitter is destined to become, after everyone sensible bails for greener (read: effectively moderated) pastures.
After seeing LGBTQ+ people and racial minorities *already* deal with being harassed off of platforms simply for existing in a mostly white, male, 'techbro dude' space, my only hope is that we get the word out about better alternatives for everyone before that space gets even more toxic.
Nevermind the various politicians on there - you have an office with a mailing address and phone number, and probably e-mail - you don't *need* to be publicly on social media exposing yourself to distracting vitriol from people who aren't even your constituents. I love tech, but mental (and physical!) health is more important.
Of course, many politicians just *love* hearing themselves speak, so sadly I don't expect that to change, either. ;)
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