1/ Hey gang, I've been seeing a lot of tweets saying "Mastodon is too complicated."
I think it's an attack on a new safe space, not unlike bombing Black churches or shooting up an LGBTQ+ club. It's tactical, specific, not random.
Progressives NEED a safe, stable, space for community, communication, information and education, and mobilization.
@KarenFT I agree with you, at our individual level! But, I also remember a time when people didn't "get" the bluebird site :-) All I'm suggesting is, we would do well to see the bigger picture and resolve to put in some work, because I think this is about much more than ease of use. If we're focused on the details of one tree, we may miss the forest. Bet your bottom dollar, Conservatives see it, and they've managed to all but destroy Twitter out from under so many marginalized communities.
@duaneaubin It is certainly painful for all of us to have to rebuild communities, but I have no doubt we can do it. And hopefully build even better ones.
@duaneaubin you are right that marginalized people, alllys and progressives need to find a home (I won’t even say new home because Twitter was a broken space long before Elon).
But I don’t think critiquing new platforms is attacking them. All options need to be evaluated. “Too complicated” means inaccessible which is a serious fault. Honest feedback of platforms is a central part of finding one that is going to work.
@TheRuralProgressive Fair enough. I would like to HOPE that people on the bird site who see "[insert site here] is too complicated" may not be discouraged from trying. And, I'd also like to hope that new tools might make the new platforms easier to use. All I'm suggesting at this juncture is, however we get over the fallout from what's happened to the bird site, we must be resolute, and active, and deliberate, and communicative, and supportive, with an eye to 2024 (and 2025 in Canada).
@duaneaubin I agree and I think that is the same hope I have. At this point it seems like most of the people saying “X is too complicated” are users/accounts who have the most to lose by Twitter collapsing because they never branched out to other platforms. Their desperation just seems to be more and more transparent by the day so it feels like that sales pitch is destined to fall flat on its own accord. The inertia to abandon the Bird is already underway and it won’t be easy to stop.
@duaneaubin That could very well be but I've said that & I am certainly don't have any agenda. It has taken me two weeks to get the hang of this & to be able to get it working on all of my devices. Change is hard & I am more computer literate than most. Maybe we were all just too accustomed to how the bluebird site worked.