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Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

tapbots.com

311–320 of 427 posts

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#311

Tweetbot was the client that made Twitter fun to use. Now I'm lost and can't stand using the service. Trying to figure out how to maintain my contacts on the platform while navigating the site has been awful. What a terrible experience it is. I'll probably try the Twitter app but I am hopeful I can keep up with everyone on a different platform someday.

Use https://www.movetodon.org/ before they block their API key too.

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#312
post #87

If you're not paying attention to Mastodon now, a think to know about Tapbots and Ivory, their new ActivityPub client, is that their TestFlight betas, which they release in batches of a thousand or so at a time, last for just a couple minutes before they're all snapped up; there seems to be pretty huge demand for it. With a decent client (I've bounced around a couple of them so far), even in a beta state, the experie…

I've been on the fediverse for years and while I enjoy it, I think it's naive to think it'll replace Twitter. Fundamentally it lacks good discovery, features take too long to implement (or simply can't be implemented), and verification is impossible without setting up your own server which seems like too much overhead imo. Further it just doesn't scale, although Andrew Torba was never known for his coding ability the…

"verification is impossible without setting up your own server"

I don't think that's right. You don't need to run your own server in order to add verified links to your profile - but you do need to have pages you can link to on trusted domains which can rel=me back to your Mastodon page.

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#313
post #304
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has a social media site ever been forced to accommodate blind people? Serious question.

Youtube to this day allows uploaders to disable automatic captions for some reason.

Because sometimes the automatic captions brutally butcher the text and can change the presenters meaning.

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#314
post #87

If you're not paying attention to Mastodon now, a think to know about Tapbots and Ivory, their new ActivityPub client, is that their TestFlight betas, which they release in batches of a thousand or so at a time, last for just a couple minutes before they're all snapped up; there seems to be pretty huge demand for it. With a decent client (I've bounced around a couple of them so far), even in a beta state, the experie…

I've been on the fediverse for years and while I enjoy it, I think it's naive to think it'll replace Twitter. Fundamentally it lacks good discovery, features take too long to implement (or simply can't be implemented), and verification is impossible without setting up your own server which seems like too much overhead imo. Further it just doesn't scale, although Andrew Torba was never known for his coding ability the…

I don't know what it even means for this to "scale". I think people right now are hung up on Mastodon-the-social-network, the way it's been principally used until fairly recently, where people share servers and servers have a discernible culture, moderation, rules, community, that kind of thing. I don't think that's going to last long at all.

The Mastodon that stands a very good chance of killing Twitter is Mastodon-the-software; "ActivityPub", if we have to call it that. This Mastodon isn't a coherent social network at all; it's a successor to RSS. People run their own servers; "scaling" them means the same thing as scaling a blog would. Of course, most people don't want to run their own servers, but that isn't going to matter by the end of the year, when 10 different providers will boot up a "Mastodon instance" for you with a single button push. Nobody is going to be thinking about instances at all; they'll just have an address, the same way they do for email.

In this world, "Mastodon" is sort of a combination of most of the good features of Twitter, Blogger, and Google Reader, all at once. Users are as "discoverable" as blogs were --- meaning: very discoverable.

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#315
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think Mastodon is a good replacement for Twitter at all, but I am going to have to try it. What exactly leads you to believe it's not a good replacement, especially considering you haven't tried it?

My only issue with Mastodon is the network effect. There are many accounts I follow on Twitter, relatively popular accounts not friends with 5 followers, that aren’t on Mastodon. So I’m missing a bunch of what I had. I found new things too, which is great. But it’s still never going to be a 1:1 replacement.

[deleted]

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is "almost everyone"? Four people? Using it on what server? Mastadon is more like Discord than Twitter. There is no core server. There is no core experience. It's just an instanced message board.

I don't know why Mastodon is hyped up so much. I do not have an account on it as I have some concerns. My understanding at the current time is that a server can be run by a single random individual, they can read your DMs as they are not encrypted, and they can kick you off the server if you write anything the server operator does not agree with. At least with Twitter, it was a corporation with rules and procedures.

> My understanding at the current time is that a server can be run by a single random individual, they can read your DMs as they are not encrypted, and they can kick you off the server if you write anything the server operator does not agree with.

Yes, just like any service on the Internet. I really don’t understand how the fact that anybody can run a Mastodon/Web/email/whatever server makes the whole thing not reliable; you just have to choose a server that suits you.

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#317
post #270
post #87

If you're not paying attention to Mastodon now, a think to know about Tapbots and Ivory, their new ActivityPub client, is that their TestFlight betas, which they release in batches of a thousand or so at a time, last for just a couple minutes before they're all snapped up; there seems to be pretty huge demand for it. With a decent client (I've bounced around a couple of them so far), even in a beta state, the experie…

It's funny to focus on the length of a post on a platform, but then it is central to the medium. I was on twitter when it was 140 characters, and appreciated the increase to 280. I've always agreed it shouldn't get too long, or you lose the character of the platform. But even with 280, I'm always wordsmithing my posts just to squeeze in enough context to avoid conflict and misinterpretation. On Mastodon, I haven't on…

Yes, this exactly. There are still "threads" on Mastodon, but they're broken up on boundaries that make sense: related but standing-alone points. Mostly, you just don't have to think about it at all, and just write out whatever you're thinking. It's pretty great.

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm test-driving Mammoth right now, and spent a couple weeks in MetaText (which is I think not maintained anymore, but it worked fine).

I remember a few years back when those positions were reversed. Mastodon iOS app devs are mostly doing it out of love or passion and so seem prone to interesting hiatuses. Though Mastodon is usually "stable" enough and "feature complete" enough and not generally a fast-changing target outside of big migratory transitions like this recent one, so those devs I think are generally more than welcome to whatever hiatuses…

I'd use Toot! but (besides the name, gag) it won't run on an M1 Macbook the way Mammoth will.

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Acessing APIs from 3rd party clients isn't "goodwill" and should be legally protected.

This is a tricky area. Do we legally protect access to unpublished APIs or only published, supported APIs? If there is no API, should we legally require an API? Should the API support 100% of the services operations or may it only support some subset? What if the API is unprofitable, can the business reduce the set of operations supported or remove it entirely? Can they even release a new version of the API and retir…

I think a good starting point would be something like a digital right to roam.

So you should not be able to enforce contractual terms, ask app stores or platforms to block, or use technical measures to frustrate access to an API.

If you expose it to the public internet you should be required to ambivalent about which software an otherwise valid use uses to connect to it.

I think there’s also a reasonable argument for some core protocols and services to be treats and regulated as a hybrid between public and private, kind of like the banking system.

Re: Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023

#320
post #19
post #6

The question I have with this move is why didn't Twitter just force advertising as part of their API for third party clients? Just change the TOS for using the API so if they didn't show advertising they would be cut off. What am I missing?

“Starting Feb 1st using a third part client will require Twitter Blue.” That’s all it would have taken. Probably would have made a huge increase in subscribers too. This is 100% a control move. He wants full control over how everyone experiences Twitter (not sure why). So this was pulled. Of course you can NEVER go back from this move.

>This is 100% a control move. He wants full control over how everyone experiences Twitter (not sure why).

The only thing I can think of is Musk was concerned the two largest 3rd parties would create their own network seeded with something like 66% of the most influential users.

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