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DeleteFacebook: Perspective from Mastodon

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Re: DeleteFacebook: Perspective from Mastodon

#31

Post by mfringel »

Mortiffer wrote: post #9
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #8

I think the idea that Facebook is putting democracy in peril is a bit farfetched.

while Cambridge Analytica is clearly a horrible company the idea of gathering data and building some models to better target advertisement to them is something totally normal happening all over the place. And i don't think we can really dismantel the core of online advertising because of one shady company

Dynamite is only interesting because it burns very quickly, in an energetic reaction. Things burn all the time, so I don't see why dynamite is all that interesting.

Evaluating something based on its known external traits without discussing the context in which they're used is an incomplete assessment.

Re: DeleteFacebook: Perspective from Mastodon

#32

Post by Slansitartop »

godelski wrote: post #30

So I question the sustainability of these platforms? How are they supported when they have sufficient mass? If they aren't gathering data on users and selling ads then how are they generating revenue?

> If they aren't gathering data on users and selling ads then how are they generating revenue?

Maybe they take donations, maybe you run your own instance and pay for the hosting. Not having shareholders that expect profits and growth probably takes a lot of the pressure off, too. All they have to do is not have burdensome costs or break even.

Re: DeleteFacebook: Perspective from Mastodon

#34

Post by disease »

oldsklgdfth wrote: post #10

I'm reposting this comment because I would like to open the discussion up beyond facebook and social media and into the reality that technology has provided marketing with some pretty ridiculous tools. : I feel like you used to be able to avoid getting swindled by ignoring the swindler, ex. close the door to the saleman, or ignore the gypsy pear salesmen at the market. Today, marketing is engineered at such a level t…

>How do you overcome marketing that is engineered to exploit the psychological vulnerabilities you are not even aware of?

I don't know that you can. I think we live in a great period of time to be a con man.

Re: DeleteFacebook: Perspective from Mastodon

#35

Post by burner8309 »

jdpigeon wrote: post #33
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #8

I think the idea that Facebook is putting democracy in peril is a bit farfetched.

The fact that Donald Trump is the President of the United States should be evidence enough that democracy is in serious danger.

That is democracy working as intended. We have just realized that democracy and widespread, instant communication are incompatible.

Re: DeleteFacebook: Perspective from Mastodon

#36

Post by burner8309 »

cornholio wrote: post #12

> Mastodon [...] No real name policies Lacking a very rarefied community capable of self-moderation, like this site has or some specialized reddits and forums, the no-real-name becomes a major drawback. A minority of douche-bags will generate a majority of noise and will come to shape that world in their image. This is quite visible when browsing Mastodon instances, many of which look like a crossbreed of 4chan with…

You can create your own Mastodon instance that enforces a real name policy.

Re: DeleteFacebook: Perspective from Mastodon

#37

Post by fancyfacebook »

oldsklgdfth wrote: post #10

I'm reposting this comment because I would like to open the discussion up beyond facebook and social media and into the reality that technology has provided marketing with some pretty ridiculous tools. : I feel like you used to be able to avoid getting swindled by ignoring the swindler, ex. close the door to the saleman, or ignore the gypsy pear salesmen at the market. Today, marketing is engineered at such a level t…

Gypsy is considered a slur by some nowadays, probably shouldn't drop that casually anymore. Sorry, I hate language police too, I'm not actually offended just letting you know in case you drop it in a meeting someday.

I'd argue it's still possible to ignore it all, but you need three browser extensions and two mobile apps, a vpn, and probably a few other measures in place to pull it off. I feel like I'm sailing out to war with a well equipped battleship every time I launch my browser.

This is dumb. How did we let technology get so bad? How did we let the web become completely subverted?

Re: DeleteFacebook: Perspective from Mastodon

#39

Post by godelski »

Slansitartop wrote: post #32
godelski wrote: post #30

So I question the sustainability of these platforms? How are they supported when they have sufficient mass? If they aren't gathering data on users and selling ads then how are they generating revenue?

> If they aren't gathering data on users and selling ads then how are they generating revenue? Maybe they take donations, maybe you run your own instance and pay for the hosting. Not having shareholders that expect profits and growth probably takes a lot of the pressure off, too. All they have to do is not have burdensome costs or break even.

I definitely don't think the current people running it are trying to be the next Zuckerberg. But you do have to have people working full time and pay for server costs, electricity, etc. A distributed system would be interesting, but is that what they are doing? At this point is it purely developers volunteering their time and money (along with donations)? I can't see donations supporting this type of thing at a larger scale.

I'm just wondering how they are getting the capital to scale.

Re: DeleteFacebook: Perspective from Mastodon

#40

Post by knodi »

oldsklgdfth wrote: post #10

I'm reposting this comment because I would like to open the discussion up beyond facebook and social media and into the reality that technology has provided marketing with some pretty ridiculous tools. : I feel like you used to be able to avoid getting swindled by ignoring the swindler, ex. close the door to the saleman, or ignore the gypsy pear salesmen at the market. Today, marketing is engineered at such a level t…

When the truth is exposed we the people stop using that service. Lets face it US congress in this current form isn't going to do anything about it or pass laws to protect us (the users). So we have to hurt these corps where it hurts, their ad revenue.

I have already deleted my FB account and am encouraging others to do the same.

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