Notices by carl marks (tillshadeisgone@blackqueer.life)

@futurebird I agree! Had I the internet clout elsewhere to get folks to join in numbers, I could maybe do something about that. As it stands, most of the folks who listen to me online are already here.

I am on Bluesky currently and am trying to make connections. I do have plans once Bluesky starts to enshittify to try and spread the word, and I am hopeful that things will be better by then.

@futurebird & I hope you are successful, truly. I know that folks you would bring here would enrich the space, and I too am definitely NOT content feeling isolated from Black folks on my primary social media platform.

I think I just lost faith that this space, in the short term, is going to become any less antiblack than it has been. I see a lot of potential in it, and I'm going to keep working to improve my server to make it more welcoming to multiply marginalized folks (and less connected to bigots and fascists).

But for me, I feel like until some big shifts happen in the culture here (some examples might be: a bunch of Black folks join the fediverse, or the white folks who are already here wake up to how alienating the place is and work to fix it, or we get a solid alternative to Mastodon that has a more flexible dev team and safety features get implemented ASAP, you get the idea) then I cannot pitch it to folks without massive disclaimers.

Why would I advocate for my folks to come here when I've so frequently experienced slurs, racist harassment, misgendering, and constant minimization of my experiences? When the vast majority of instances don't lift a finger to actually do anything about it, and the ones that do get harassed by racists until as often as not they shut down and leave? When people froth at the mouth if you mention fediblock or TBS, two of the only tools that have actually made a difference to my users and my mod team?

I tell my friends about this stuff, and none of them want to join. And I don't blame them. So, I hold out hope and keep working and we'll see. If things did start to improve, I 100% would start telling everyone who would listen to come here. I think the fedi is the future of social media, and I believe we'll get there one day. I just don't know if it will be anytime soon.

"This is in part "failure" by design."

qwhite typical too 🧐

@futurebird @danilo

@futurebird I also stopped trying to get people to join. Until some big changes are made, there's just no reason to

@Cheethoepuff that fucking part!!

I'm glad a critical mass of Black folks finally got their ass up and left twitter. Been past time for awhile now. So yes I'll be vacationing there de temps en temps when the mayo gets too intense around here, it'll be nice to be around more Black folks again.

The wave should have come here, but y'all fucked it all the way up for that. Well, hopefully we can get our fedi shit together so that in a few years when the corporate overlords put the money squeeze on bluesky, we've got a better setup on here.

Am I optimistic about that? Not so much. But we'll see.

@CaribenxMarciaX I cain't find ya!

@so_treu SO MUCH PANTS PISSING smh

Yeah DOGE is a sad and absurd name for anything that's connected to a government of any kind, but. Trump using a nongovernmental advisory board to slash the federal government is an important departure from business as usual.

I am anticipating that as he gets more and more frustrated with the checks and balances built into federal office confirmations (having to deal with the Senate, etc) he's going to rely more and more heavily on informal "advisory boards" like the so-called department of governmental efficiency. This is going to be one of the fastest and easiest ways for him to move fast and break things as much as possible.

I'm imagining the entire federal government being run with the same attention to detail as, say, Tesla. All federal regulatory agencies being expected to operate like the company that sells cars that explode and trap people inside is... not encouraging.

And I'm sure that's just the beginning. We are starting to see the actual design of the fascist takeover that's going to happen. Fear is going to be unavoidable, but it's important to anticipate what's coming. And to respond by preparing, organizing, and getting connected to comrades instead of succumbing to despair.

Relatedly, I need to go read project 2025...

@Cheethoepuff for my part, I think the fedi definitely has that potential. I agree that decentralized is super important for that kind of thing, and as the fascist pressure put on users by their corporate overlords increases over the next (??) years I think it will become even more important.

I struggle with bringing more of us here because I know how nasty the rancid mayo on here can be (ty oya for using that phrase, it's in my head now), BUT I also recognize that the mod team sees more of it than anyone else. Plus, I know the mayo is rancid everywhere else too.

So as for whether it's a good idea, on the one hand that's exactly what this server is for and I want for our community to grow on the platform! And on the other I worry about the negative treatment they could experience. I'd say as long as they knew that even though it's decentralized and more independent than corporate hell social we still have shitheads... I don't think it's a bad idea.

the people that write for newsweek should be put into a zoo and studied

@wood5y reminds us that Trump values loyalty and ideology over actual skills and/or experience

@notroot @inquiline I think the correct word is "ongoinglyinginggo"

As you may know, some Democrats are trying to blame the election loss on trans people. Here's my thorough response: "Should Democrats Throw Trans People Under the Bus? Here’s Why It Would Be Bad Politics." No paywall, 8 minute read, please share widely!
https://juliaserano.medium.com/should-democrats-throw-trans-people-under-the-bus-c4ffd223af8c?sk=aa9b608bc0f43ae717000e26dc0cbb0e
#trans #transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #election #politics

@researchfairy it's such user-hostile design. Nowadays if you watch one of their "reels" more than once or twice the interface will start to swipe up partially to show you that more videos are available below and to try to bully you into scrolling. Then it swipes back to the video. It keeps doing unless you go ahead and swipe up, making the video bounce up and down, totally disrupting you. Have not been able to figure out how to turn it off, or even if that's possible. Meta is such a garbage fire

Hello All!
As of this month, we are officially short of the amount of money we need in order to cover hosting costs and pay our mods. Our total monthly expenses are about $120 ($50 for each of our two mods and $20 for managed hosting services). Before Open Collective Foundation (our previous fiscal host) went under earlier this year, we had these expenses completely covered. Since we had to transition to self-hosting, we have never hit that mark again.

Over the previous months as we have been using Ko-Fi, I have been working behind the scenes to get us to be able to use Open Collective again because of how many different types of donations they accept (we have only been using PayPal with Ko-Fi which is...not ideal).

And as of today, I am happy to announce that we can once again accept payments through Open Collective at https://opencollective.com/blackqueerlife

For the first time, you will be able to make donations through Stripe, PayPal, or direct bank transfer. Our hope is that we can once again have our costs covered fully by donations.

I can't tell you how many times in the past year and change that I have been running this server that I have thought about giving up and moving off of the fediverse. Our mod team constantly has to deal with white supremacist harassment, transmisia, transmisogynoir, ableism, etc from other users and instances. We are making it work, but I'd be lying if I said it was not taking a toll. And with fascism on the rise globally, things are only going to get worse in that department.

So if you don't agree with that and want to help support us in maintaining a space on this network, any amount helps. Seriously.

-eva

@blackfedi #BlackMastodon #BlackFediverse #MutualAid #BlackFedi #BlackQueerLife #QTPOC

California practiced slavery of both Black and Indigenous people and still does to this day.

Californians need to stop lying to themselves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery_in_California

@wolf :oh_no_bubble:

Add skills with a video camera and video edit software to the mix and you can be a one person rolling low budget film studio.

Start a YouTube channel or work with a media house somewhere to be their remote unit.

Help companies with sales and marketing. Run their social media account. Help target their marketing.

Tech support jobs are often remote work. Spend your day reminding customers their TV has to be plugged in and helping them replace the remote the dog ate.

@dwf tell me why I'm not even a little bit surprised