Not everyone watches US politics, or Fox News. I live in the US and don't know her. I am sure there are famous faces you don't know because it's not your field of interest. Can you identify famous contemporary painters by face? Physicists? Composers? Game designers? Belittling someone's education because they don't know something you do is pathetic and says a lot more about you than it does the person you were mocking.

To be fair, no user "owns" their account. Everything about your Twitter account, from the user name to the data you tweet belongs to Twitter. I hesitate to call it a dick move. It's more of an Elon move.

I don't think we should worry about an app we will never use. :)

The difference is people generally don't care about a change if it doesn't inconvenience them beyond their tolerance threshold. Losing access to 3rd party apps? Bad to some, but probably the profit of the move will exceed the cost. (their hope) But get a rep for ratting out your posters to authorities and it suddenly becomes very personal for more people.

Reddit understands it's value is in content to sell. If reddit starts ratting out it's free content creators, they lose value. Their actions are a profit calculation, not some noble stand to protect privacy.

You can't tell anyone this, but I have a friend who is deep inside the insurance industry. Some of the big guys have invested heavy into LEDs. So to maximize the LED investments, they give manufacturers safety discounts for every LED they can attach to their shit. Big guys make some extra zeros for their accounts, and sharpie and 3M get some splash, too.

For me, I don't need new fancy features to communicate. I don't need video chat rooms. I don't need constant notifications. I just need a simple place to post my social expressions and read other people's social expressions. I don't want my experience to be shaped by algorithms designed to keep me engaged and present. For me, social media is like going down to the pub and talking with some regular friends. The BIGGER a platform is, the less it's about being social, and it's more about promotion. Promotion of self, events, clubs, companies, etc.

Threads will take away people from Mastodon, but that's a good thing. Because it will appeal to people who desire a different social media experience. They can take the foam off the top, leaving us with a smaller group that prefers a simpler, less invasive, social media. I don't have to share all my contacts, my browsing history, my health data or my financial data to Mastodon (or any service in the Fediverse) in order to use it. You cannot say the same about Thread.

I will always side with something like Mastodon over Thread. That doesn't mean I don't believe Mastodon cannot fail. It certainly can. But it won't be Thread that kills it.

The things I upvote and downvote are in line with my personal values and I am not ashamed of that. I have no issues with anyone knowing my reaction to a post. On Discord anyone can see who leaves reactions on a message. Same with Facebook. It will show you who added what reaction.

Being outraged against a system that exploits the labor of the masses for the profit of the few is not the same as being outraged at other people who disagree with you. You can support capitalism and I don't need to insult you or make attacks against you personally. Outrage, when it is against something you feel to be harmful is normal. Outrage that is generated by corporate manipulation is not normal. For example, the hatred toward the trans community and drag queens has never been a "thing".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgkWQpgZ1JQ

This is a clip from a Love Boat episode. It aired in 1982. Nobody called them "woke" or even really talked about it the next day. Drag shows have been in US culture since at least the 1920s. I remember, back in the 90s, people would flock to this club in town called "Discovery" on Saturday nights. It was a gay dance club, but on Saturdays, there would often be an equal number of straight couples who came to enjoy the extravagant stage shows, which were similar to something you might see in Vegas. This was in the deep south, too. There were no protests. There were no attacks. There was no violence. There was no outrage.

We have been manipulated because it's profitable. Oh and, yes, thank capitalism for that. :)

Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram...their default content (your frontpage, your personal feed, etc) show you the content their algorithms have determined will make you most engaged and remain there longer to 1. Generate more free content for them to sell, 2. command your attention so they can sell that attention to advertisers. Corporate "social" media is technically "social exploitation" and has effects that reach into the real world. The behaviors they feeds spill into our interactions in real life.

Former redditor. What do I call myself now? Lemming? lol But I also noticed that I don't see some Karma score equivalent, which is a great thing to leave behind. Those imaginary points were just useless at best, and used against people who were new at the worst.