I’ll be honest: I don’t fully know what I’m doing, bailing on Twitter and moving to Mastodon, except that it feels like the right thing to do, and it definitely feels like the right time to do it.
I’ve heard here and there that Mastodon is a “different” social experience from Twitter, and I haven’t fully taken the time to learn how — but the thought of continuing to hang around on Twitter, with a nutjob at the helm now and with Trump reinstated (not to mention all the noise, ads, and relentless self-promotion), just makes me feel sick inside. The last few weeks have made clear what an astonishingly despicable person Elon Musk really is, and I can’t bear the idea of lending any more of my time, attention, and creative energy to the business venture of yet another despicable person. I left Facebook in 2008 for the same reason, and aside from missing out on a few family photos from time to time, I haven’t regretted that decision since.
So far, Mastodon looks like an interesting experiment — and if the influx of new users over the weekend is any guide, the experiment might actually be working. Most of the people I follow on Twitter are already there, which doesn’t hurt. And I love the open and distributed nature of Mastodon, too. Kris @nova and her colleagues have done an amazing job setting up hachyderm and defining the guidelines for the community; I must say, it’s hard not to love the official Don’t be a Dick policy, which I’m hoping will shut up at least a few of the insufferable loudmouths I’ve had to endure over the past several months. So I’m excited, to say the least. Fingers crossed — we’ll see how this goes.
Oh! And here’s where you’ll find me: https://hachyderm.io/@cnunciato.