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It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

simonwillison.net

141–150 of 472 posts

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#142

I expect that the feature I’ll miss most from Twitter will be the algorithmic timeline! I must be old. I remember a time when people wanted a chronological timeline (on by default). Twitter still offers a chronological timeline, but now that people are migrating to Mastodon, I've come across the wish to have an algorithmic timeline again quite often :). I just find this interesting (I can relate, I find the algorithm…

I must've set it up wrong. My Twitter home page is filled with posts that I don't care from people I don't watch, Twitter repeatedly recycles and then pushes those content to me because it thinks I'll be interested. How arrogant.

In my case, Twitter already has an algorithmic timeline.

Now I read my daily news update from few subscribed newsletters, websites as well as r/worldnews. These are far better sources of information than Twitter.

Don't get me wrong, other platforms that I enjoy such as YouTube and Reddit also has algorithmic timeline, but I've never seen such bad implementation before straight to the level of annoying and begging for uninstall.

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#143
post #49

> I can’t see myself putting the same work in to help the world’s richest man pay the loans he took out So Twitter was “really good” (while it was helping the many rich shareholders of a random public company) but it’s suddenly “work” a couple of days after the owner changed? Nothing wrong for not using it because of ideological reasons, but the product’s accessibility (or anything else really) hasn’t changed yet.

It's one thing to use a medium that is being abused by malicious actors; it's another to be on a medium that suffers constant drama fostered by an owner and CEO who spends his days vocalizing an imprecise understanding of civil rights and his contempt for his customers.

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#144

I don't see a valid reason to leave Twitter in his post. IMO laying off the accessibility team isn't a reason to leave. But, each to his own opinion. The layoffs will have effect, but it doesn't have to be a bad one. Once they get leaner, they might have a clearer vison and know where to expand.

If Musk wants twitter to be the town square for the world, that town square needs to be accessible for all. Even though this might not directly affect Simon, hats off to him for making that decision. If twitter starts becoming as inaccessible as most other systems it will lock out people and remove their voices from twitter. That feels like an incredibly valid reason, and isn't the point of free markets to vote with…

Have you ever actually looked at their website? You need to use a 3rd-party service like nitter to make twitter accessible.

It really feels like people have never used twitter and are reading the news and go "aha! they've canned the accessibility team! they're trying to exclude the blind!"

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#145
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did eliminating the accessibility team made the twitter worse for blind people somehow? Was twitter getting better for blind people over the years?

In terms of web accessibility, it had improved the alt text / meta descriptions, etc of external websites through the "cards" when you share a page on twitter, over the years, encouraging web developers to put them in their own websites. (same with faceboook etc)

Twitter just followed what everyone else was doing, and not even correctly, they had to have their own way.

FB was among the first social sites crawling the links and creating a thumbnail with crucial info. When OG tags were introduced (by them nonetheless!), FB started honoring them. Twitter some year later finally decided to do the card thing and thought that skipping OG and having their own syntax under meta would be best way.

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#146
Unfortunately I have to say that I’m too removed from this to care (I guess decisions like this happen invisibly in every company all the time). However, the true intentions about this acquisition do make me curious. Does he really think that patting the backs of a handful of conservative extremists will make Twitter better? (An already global leader in its segment?) can anyone give me a concrete analysis of the scenario? As far as I know there were a couple of attempts to create such “free” networks and it never really goes anywhere. I really appreciate his work as an engineer but I have a feeling he overreached here.

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#147

I expect that the feature I’ll miss most from Twitter will be the algorithmic timeline! I must be old. I remember a time when people wanted a chronological timeline (on by default). Twitter still offers a chronological timeline, but now that people are migrating to Mastodon, I've come across the wish to have an algorithmic timeline again quite often :). I just find this interesting (I can relate, I find the algorithm…

I never disliked the algorithmic timeline, I just disliked the fact Twitter did everything it could to get you use it, including switching back to it after a while without telling you. The second I notice a platform not only being manipulative, but thinking I'm stupid and wouldn't notice, I start to resent it.

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#149

I don't see a valid reason to leave Twitter in his post. IMO laying off the accessibility team isn't a reason to leave. But, each to his own opinion. The layoffs will have effect, but it doesn't have to be a bad one. Once they get leaner, they might have a clearer vison and know where to expand.

His own opinion is a valid reason.

It’s also a valid reason to leave because space captain Musk is in control.

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#150
post #49

> I can’t see myself putting the same work in to help the world’s richest man pay the loans he took out So Twitter was “really good” (while it was helping the many rich shareholders of a random public company) but it’s suddenly “work” a couple of days after the owner changed? Nothing wrong for not using it because of ideological reasons, but the product’s accessibility (or anything else really) hasn’t changed yet.

Twitter used to be run by progressives, so there was a modicum of "we are, or should be, doing good things here". Elon Musk bought Twitter specifically to hollow out its progressive cultural core.

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