Well, that was interesting. I mentioned CoSo on a friend's FB page and had some woman start screaming at me about how CoSo was horrible and run by a sociopath.
I asked if she knew him personally and how she was qualified to make a diagnosis.
Pointed out that this was a very mellow community with contented users, no trolls, etc.
Then mentioned my late husband had been involved in white hat hacking for a DoD contractor.
Crickets...
Some people...
@rf238 The problem I find is that so many people emote without a basis. I've owned a small internet company that went down in the dot com bust. I was married to a techie who programmed and protected massive servers at a DoD company. I worked at that company for a while while I was career transitioning.
People associate hacker with cracker. NOT the same. NOT even close. People don't know the difference between a hack, a crack, and a clone.
I tend to confront ignorance. Crickets...
@J_Windrow
That's really the best strategy - perhaps they are too embarrassed and can't bring themselves to admit to being wrong? However, if your presentation of facts and context makes them think and reconsider their position (even privately to themselves) then it was well worth it.
@rf238 Honestly, there's probably no worse luck than running into a former social worker who went into tech and after that blew up, when into law. 😉
Had she asked her friend (this was on a friend's page) she'd have told her that if she was lucky I'd ignore her. If she wasn't I'd take her on.
She got really quiet. Which was a very good idea. Maybe she learned. More likely, she's pouting.
I doubt she learned much. Just got her hand slapped.
@J_Windrow Odds are slim she's learned anything (other than to be more careful what she says around you! :-) ) but even a small hope is hope.
@rf238 One will get you two that she blocked me for daring to call her on her BS. I do so nicely. Like: Please share the qualifications for your diagnosis.
Then: CoSo is a vibrant and healthy community where trolling is prohibited and the user base is happy.
Then I added my late hubby was a white hat hacker.
Crickets.
Some folks never figure out who not to pick a fight with.
Mostly I walk away, but I want a fellow writer to land here. So... fingers smacked.
@J_Windrow I asked some of the people on Twitter, and they said they didn’t want to come here because their friends got “banned because they called someone stupid.” Mhm. I’m sure that’s all it was. Lol
@Dogofalltrees Once upon a time I was on the early net. Back in the time of echo nets you had to have asbestos undies. There were death threats going back and forth constantly on places like CLink.
I appreciate the fact there's a no tolerance situation here.
Even FB is becoming toxic. It was my safe space for a while. I'm limiting time there and rejecting most new friend attempts.
Lots of people who are used to using abusive language without repercussions could have problems here.
@J_Windrow I found FB increasingly toxic. I’m happy to engage in reasoned discussion with someone whose opinion differs from mine and a decade ago there were others on FB who would do so, but they seem to be gone now. You try to engage and get either mindless vitriol or silence.
I like it here. It seems like what FB used to be only better - a place to say what’s on your mind and be heard, at least to some extent, by friendly and interesting folks.
@Yndiri You can certainly find toxic convo on FB. I limit myself to things that work for me. Writing groups, law discussions with people who have been in practice, discussions with people I know from work/school or some family members.
I like it here too, but some things it just can't do.
I do all kinds of posting in Open Door I can't do there. It's just not set up for it. Different platforms. Some of my postings there are educational.
@J_Windrow Were they mixing up Mastodon and CS? I've heard more negative about the former than the latter, plus I don't understand the way it silos people by interest, so I migrated here.
@mharriseditor Nope. The message was that Mastodon is godlike and CoSo is run by a sociopath. I almost ignored her.
This happened on a the page of a local writer friend I work closely with. We meet a couple times a week. She wants to see where most of the writing community lands. In honestly, it'll fragment. It's not going to land in one new spot. I'm invested in having her land here.
Instead of ignoring the defamation by her "friend" I slapped her upside the head with a dose of reality.
@J_Windrow I'm sorry you had that experience, it is amazing how many people have very strong negative opinions about something they have no idea, even conceptually.