@stueytheround

Right, absolutely, but due to CoSo’s size, they aren’t going to be prioritizing CoSo for that level of support. @Autumn has almost 20,000 followers over on IG. When she asks a question of a brand, she gets a little more attention than the average person. I’m not sure I want CoSo to be that sort of site. When -I- see brands here, I block them.

@amarand I wouldn't be running around following brands here, that's for sure. I mute most of those who are here already, but I also don't object to them having a presence.
@Autumn

@stueytheround

Yeah, that was my question: should we as a community welcome broadcasty brands here or not? My experience (all broadcasty brands blocked immediately) will differ from those who have a “live and let live” philosophy. Their CoSo experience will absolutely change as more brands start to broadcast here. I felt like we have an “only human” rule here but I don’t know how far that goes, which is why I polled my favorite audience of sentient NPCs. 😹

@amarand @stueytheround I am a live and let live type here and I haven’t really seen any brand posts. I did vote yes, but I had to stop and really think about it. Probably will think about it all day now 😂

I must say, I hate how FB is all ads now, like 4-5 ads in a row, then a post from an actual friend. I don’t think I would like to see that here…maybe I should have voted no?

@AverageCitizen @stueytheround

Well, it’s interesting to say “yes” for different reasons, too. Maybe you want to give brands the freedom to post but you don’t want them to be spammy? But any brand post is spammy by definition. It’s not technically an ad but it’s still someone trying to steal your attention with a brand related post. To me, if that’s all an account is, I do not personally welcome them here.

@amarand @stueytheround I agree with your thoughts here. I keep thinking I need to post to Betty Crocker about how they cut the cake box mixes from 15.25oz to 13ish oz (kept price the same). But I wouldn’t want to do that here on CoSo, and I forget to do it when on FB. I permanently quit Twitter so can’t do it there.

*the cake mix cut affects recipes I have so it is annoying

@AverageCitizen Just a quick aside, have you installed the Social Fixer add-on over there? It makes a massive difference 👍

@amarand @stueytheround

@BillyBones @amarand @stueytheround can that be done on an iPad mini? I segregated FB & IG on a separate device so I could limit my time on it, it’s not on my phone and I seldom use them on my desktop.

@AverageCitizen Sorry for the delayed reply. I'm honestly not sure, I think it may just be Chrome-based (I use Vivaldi on a PC).

@amarand @stueytheround

https://socialfixer.com/index.html

/nosanitize

@amarand @stueytheround Nah, unless they pay J a lot more than a pro subscription, they're clearly marked as "brand" and we can silence them all with one preference. "Ignore commercial accounts" option.

They also need to abide by the ToS regarding their posts. For instance, NewMax would get themselves banned immediately.

@stueytheround @amarand For real. That is how I dealt with the LG fridge saga. After way too much back and forth I finally posted with a tag of #LifeIsntGood and that got a response within a couple of hours.

@InvaderGzim

Ahh but Thoughts of a Dog and WeRates are humorous entertainment accounts. Not the same as Wendy’s which is trying to sell hamburgers by being witty. Totally not the same. I would absolutely embrace Thoughts of a Dog and WeRates. All give and no take. I’m just not a fan (instablock) of all take no give.

@InvaderGzim

Also, what happens when CoSo gets big enough to attract news companies like, say, NPR (yay!) or FOX (superboo!). Do we let them share whatever they want? Do we tag non-human broadcast accounts as such? If so, do we have a “switch” in settings to allow us to automatically hide these non-human accounts?

@amarand
What if the Boss implements a Fairness Doctrine.
Limited posts per day...
And all posts by these entities have to be Objectively True?
And non partisan?
They could pay for the editors' salary?
Strictly enforced rules...
They could be with no recourse...

Not saying that I wouldn't also permaBlock instantly as well...

But the town needs to grow?
It's been 7 years? How much longer can we last on The Boss's dime?

If we were 100% funded every month, I'd vote no...

@InvaderGzim

Well, and CoSo has always been anti-advertising. If a company like NPR wanted to be a “contributing member” they would do so only for platform support, not for editorial priority. But yeah…not really sure how moving from a town (in your analogy) to a city would make things better, unless it helped us move the needle toward self-sufficiency. If we got a Stephen King and a million new users tomorrow and not a single one paid, would we be better off or worse?

@amarand @InvaderGzim presumably, unless imposter, one large company was here briefly when we had that huge rush after
Musk bought Twitter, and they were zapped

@AlphaCentauri

I wonder if there’s a way to increase community funding engagement without taking money from brands - which is effectively advertising no matter what you call it or how much you limit it. Brands are going to brand. It’s their sole purpose of being.

@AlphaCentauri

What I’d love to see is a rich, silent, angel partner. Someone with enough money that paying $5000 a month is literally a rounding error to them. They don’t want influence. They don’t want special treatment. They just want CoSo to survive long-term.

@amarand @AlphaCentauri
Dude. All I need is a few million and I'd be that person!

@janallmac @AlphaCentauri

Yup! I’d share it with you! That way you’d only have to pay half of whatever you were going to pay!