Notices by Shoq (shoq@mastodon.social), page 13

Not thrilled with how Biden is handling the crisis in the Middle East? Think you might not vote for him in “protest.” Well…

PLEASE CONSIDER THE FUCKING ALTERNATIVE (while you still can)⏵

“Trump told donors he will crush pro-Palestinian protests, deport demonstrators.”

Gift article: https://wapo.st/4bywzh1

Well sure. They are masters of their universe and have no time for that nonsense. They know that women would just want things to work right, be fair and inclusive, and care about user’s needs, feelings and other poorly-monetized concerns.

In reply to…
https://mastodon.social/@jeffjarvis/112507260370228256

@gwaldby @kcarruthers No, they merely say they are “neutral.” Like most right-wing operations, core premises are often just lies. Maintaining plausible neutrality is how they are able to influence whenever they know who is likely to be reading a given piece of content. And like the equally right-wing Real Clear Politics, their site has many missions, and often try to nudge certain races, issues and GOP priorities.

Not many are aware that Ballotpedia is a classic example of tools that can make change. Not always good change. Unknown to most, it was an initiative of a super-conservative organization with extremist roots. They wanted to weaponize politics to benefit the far right, but were constantly working with bad legislative information. So they created this site to gather the info. Beware. It can still skew hard right when you least expect it.

@tchambers If most fediverse-interested users have a Threads account, how do fedi admins attract enough users to support them ? Someone needs to study this, because if I am right, we’re just trading one centralized model for another centralized model that can be followed from users on decentralized servers. I’m not sure what that’s going to look like a year from now. Are people really going to support servers just for their moderation? I strongly doubt it.

@tchambers Maybe, but it would be weird for desktop to flatline while mobile did not ( regardless of the percentage using either). I suppose it’s possible, but I can’t imagine what might explain the disparity.

@tchambers@indieweb.social @Tchambers Thanks. That seems to confirm those saying that Threads growth has “flat-lined,” not just recently, but since December. But even more concerning is that we know many Twitter elites have moved there in only last 6 months, so even they had marginal impact. If accurate, this is good or bad news, depending on one’s goals or perspective.

@Tchambers Is there any real evidence that Threads is growing much beyond its Instagram starter-set and the initial surge (and converting some to Fedi accounts). I’m not seeing much evidence of it in feeds I watch carefully, but I’m not aware of many reliable data sources.

Good afternoon. How goes the march toward fascism? Are we there yet?

Just remember folks, it’s just math. Not voting for Biden, no matter your disagreements on some issues, IS in fact, voting for Trump.

So if you’re going to be Trump voter in November, please tell me so you can fuck right off, right now. TIA.

For those who don’t know, this is one of the most repugnant shitbags on the American right. The remarkable thing about this weasel is not that he lies about most things, but that he never tells the truth about anything.

This post has gotten more traction than anything else I’ve posted all day. Here, on Bluesky, and Xitter. Threads? Flatline. It’s the algorithm. And it’s terrible.

If you thought we could survive all of this madness, think again. We’re at war with stupidity on a previously unimaginable scale.

This is as unsurprising as it is concerning ⏵

That’s a pretty potent group of notables. Any other takeaways to share from the confab?

@tchambers Other than posts themselves, I get no notifications from any Threads accounts. Is that on their roadmap? And what about following social web accounts from Threads? Is there anything more happening there than aspiration, AFAYK?

Dear Gen-Z:

Hitler was elected with 33% of the vote and he was quick to put your age group to work. You can’t sit out this election. Not if you want any chance of a decent life. Yes, a lot sucks now, but it can suck a whole lot worse if Trump and his many snakes slither back into power.

@mmasnick always brings coherence to our social media dramas. Maybe now more will better understand why some of us remain excited for the potential of “protocols over platforms.”

“Bluesky Is Building The Decentralized Social Media Jack Dorsey Wants, Even If He Doesn’t Realize It.”

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/05/13/bluesky-is-building-the-decentralized-social-media-jack-dorsey-wants-even-if-he-doesnt-realize-it

Yes, that is all so promising and we all owe you all for the efforts. I wish we could get to a point where the big funders (and there are many) recognize the need to put this whole project on steroids. With the stakes so high, we shouldn’t be talking about thousands, but rather, millions. And the money is out there. We have to somehow tell it the right story.

In reply to…
https://mastodon.social/@thisismissem@hachyderm.io/112356398311097295

Whenever someone says something was “widely reported,” the dying worm in my brain automatically transposes it to “some say…”