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   Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:53:41 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

   As people are leaving Bird for good, I find that many are engaged in what I believe is a dangerous and misguided game of mixing apples and oranges. After what just happened, and all that it has revealed about reliance on for-profit corporate entities for interpersonal and community interaction, why advocate for another such environment? Substack is already known garbage, and Post provides no future-proofing. When I say, “seize the means of your social media production,” this is why.

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:53:38 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

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     I’m calling banned journalists, for instance, to never ever go back. You do not need to be on Twitter to cover it. I’m frankly agnostic about holding onto an account. Right now I’m doing that, but use it to criticize Melon until I’m somehow banned at some point. I deleted my DMs and almost all my posts and don’t communicate via DM anymore. I post a fraction of the volume I once did. At some point I’m sure that will end, too. There’s no utility to it.

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:53:40 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

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     I honestly find it baffling. And disturbing.

     Frank Bennett repeated this.
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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:29 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

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     Personally, I’m exhausted by the cynicism of the Andreessens and Theils and Zuckerburgs and Dorseys of the world. Haven’t you had enough? I’ve been online since 1993, a lowly paid, low status tech worker for 15 years, and I’ve been researching the trauma and human cost of commercial content moderation — content moderation at scale — for 13 years as an academic; a practice and an industry that ONLY exists because commercial, corporate social media exists. I am fucking exhausted.

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:30 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

     in reply to

     • Mél Hogan ?️‍??

     And those ways are likely, just by their nature, going to offer more sustainable, eco-friendly options (if we want them and demand them and make them), not a desert in a Utah drought zone (h/t: @mel_hogan). They can also allow people to foster community and connection on a manageable scale (whatever that means to each individual or a person’s community-as-she-defines-it).

     Frank Bennett repeated this.
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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:31 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

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     I will allow that is probably outside the purview of the part-time coder giving voluntarily to projects to build and then run an instance of anything to the tune of two billion users worldwide. But let me ask you this: does that model seem healthy for all of us, the people? There is NOTHING NATURAL about two billion people being subjugated by billionaires profiteering off their human desire for connection. Fundamentally, there are better, more human-focused ways.

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:33 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

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     Here’s another big secret: it’s not about feature set, or technological affordances, or interfaces anymore. Almost anything one for-profit company is doing with their products can be adequately mimicked in a non-corporatized release. Or — here’s a thought — something novel could be born without having to be incubated and promoted by VC-funded or Wall Street-controlled firms. Decolonize your minds. We’ve been brainwashed into believing that we don’t have the means.

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:34 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

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     What irony that these people run off at the goddamned mouth about “free speech” in the “town square,” all the while ensuring that they alone hold the keys to that square and they alone make the rules. And the money. Ever get the feeling you’ve been had?

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:35 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

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     I’m really a good time at a cocktail party. Can you tell?

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:36 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

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     I just don’t know what more to do to try to make this case. But I’m begging folks to listen to me and think this through along the lines I’ve recommended. Talk to your friends and peers. Maybe I’ll put a billboard on the 10. Skywrite it.

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:37 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

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     Sadsack is not just a publisher. It’s a platform. And, as some will be right and quick to point out, platforms have politics. None of these suggested alternatives passes the smell test.

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:38 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

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     Where else can we find evidence of their politics? Consider their stable of…whatevers they brought in to seed the platform, to the tune of $250k (and up) advances. Glen Greenwald. Matt Taibbi. Matty Yglesias. Bari Weiss. Graham Linehan. Among other shared political orientations, there is an undercurrent among them all of neoreactionary stances. You also might recognize them for other activities of late (e.g., the comically devoid of substance “Twitter Files”).

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:39 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

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     Indeed, they had up until October an incredibly antagonistic VP of Comms, Lulu Cheng Meservey, who recently said, “If you’re a Twitter employee who’s considering resigning because you’re worried about Elon Musk pushing for less regulated speech… please do not come work here.”

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:40 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

     in reply to

     Let’s take a look at Sadsack. The company is privately held and backed by venture capital, which is the same financial structure. They have repeatedly claimed to not have a political agenda. This is always a good indication that their political agenda, which they assuredly have, is not particularly pro-social or people-focused.

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:41 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

     in reply to

     The interrogation and analysis have to be different from “what looks interesting” or “what features does it have.” The questions to ask are who controls the rules of engagement? Do I have any agency as a user? Are my data safe? Can what happened on Bird happen here?

     You’ll find the answers are the same in almost all the cases save for this one (and other federated, user-build and admin options). There are problems. But they are of a different and solvable nature.

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     Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D. (ubiquity75@dair-community.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 16:55:42 JST Sarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.

     in reply to

     Anyway, I’m saying that we need a political economic analysis here. And to turn an historical lens back on the nature of the early social internet. It’s like backtracking on a trail and taking the other path at the fork.