I'm closing up shop on my Mastodon for the foreseeable future

I'm closing up shop on my Mastodon for the foreseeable future
vkc.sh

If you're posting short messages with a reply text box, you can expect to get replies, and the replies are going to reflect how your post was received, no matter how it was sent.

It works both ways - I replied to a post from an artist really enraged with AI and pointed out it's no different from a human artist seeing art and incorporating it into their style; that radio dealt with this in the US by legislating 'compulsory licenses' so the outcome is unclear.

The response was an immediate perma-ban from mastadon.social... this is not crypto right wing content they are unable to process anything except agreement.

If this is something that stresses you out, probably best to disable comments from anyone you do not follow.

Simple as that.

I do not think this is a problem with the tool.

I do think over-exposure to internet commentary is toxic. Like alcohol, it is a poison that is only fun if you are capable of moderation. Not everyone is, and that is okay.

For me I was addicted to reading comments from viral nonsense I did online. Giving up LTE and carrying always-accessible always-online devices meant I can only access the Internet from fixed locations that I am only willing to spend a limited amount of time in.

The internet does not follow me or summon me with notifications anymore. I visit the internet on my terms.

For me, this made me much happier with my relationship to the internet. YMMV.

For example, the artist: their livelihood is directly threatened by AI, if not now then probably in the near future, and they are responding by posting about their fear. It's transferred into enragement because that's what gets them engagement and support, but underlying that is fear. If they were to directly post about their fear there's a good chance they'd be mocked even worse so don't judge them too harshly for this.

Then along comes someone who has no skin in the game, except that they think AI is cool and something they want to be seen as an expert in. They feel it's necessary to point out to the person who is fearing for their way of life how WRONG they are. When all that person wants and needs is support.

In these types of situations, when you don't directly have skin in the game, and you don't have any support to offer, it's almost always better not to reply. Make your own post proving how right you are (without linking/tooting/screen-shotting or in any way referencing the other post), and let that other person get the social connections and support that they need. Otherwise, you are Reply Guy!

As you have pointed out, there are tools and ways to mitigate this, primarily blocking replies from people you dont follow.