Alternatives to Twatter

[citoyen]

Anyway...

Are we all on Threads yet?

I can't decide if I'm giving Zuck enough of my data yet.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Yeah, presumably numbers are written big-endian because that reflects the way we say them.

As for commas and dots, it doesn't matter does it? Because it's customary in traditions that use dots, to use a decimal comma (and vice versa). Thought there might be some that dots and decimal points.
Or
Not sure about British dates being little-endian though. Historically they were also often middle-endian, in writing as in speech. With the month written as a word, it doesn't matter. Today is Friday, March 24th, 2023. Or 24th March 2023. Or even 24 Mar. 2023 or 24-III-2023. III-24-2023 would work but I've never seen it.

1,000.001
1.000,001

One of these is written in the continental style, one of them is written correctly.

Which is which ?

The , Vs . Thing can trip a lot up. A friend put in a meter reading do 50,25 of gas on their Belgian supplier's website. Which filtered out the , And billed the for 5025. A 100x greater than used bill...

The time sheet system at work requires house logged in the form 4,25 for a four hour and 15 mins worked. Not awake one day I typed in 4.00. the system ignored the . And decided I'd worked a 400 hour shift in a single 24 HR period... Which was fun to explain to the boss...

I wish this was standardised.

J

It is standardised, and neither of those follow the standard.

numbers may be divided in groups of three in order to facilitate reading; neither dots nor commas are ever inserted in the spaces between groups

Written correctly, your examples should be
1 000.001
1 000,001

[Polar Bear]

I'm thinking Zuckerberg just KO'd Musk. 

I'll still pass though.

[citoyen]

The thing that really puts me off Threads (aside from the data mining) is that it needs to be tied to an existing Instagram account. I use Instagram and Twitter for very different purposes and really don't want one identity linked to the other. So I'd have to set up a separate Instagram account in order to join Threads.

It's bad enough that Instagram nags me to share to Faceache every time I post.

[Polar Bear]

I agree but there are literally hundreds of millions of people who really don't give a shit and will jump in just because it is there.  I am certainly not going to create an Instagram account just to create a Threads account just to be part of the great experiment.

I have the displeasure of existing on a "family" WhatsApp group.  There is already excited talk about "us" all joining Threads.  I have stayed silent on the subject so far.

[Jaded]

The thing that really puts me off Threads (aside from the data mining) is that it needs to be tied to an existing Instagram account. I use Instagram and Twitter for very different purposes and really don't want one identity linked to the other. So I'd have to set up a separate Instagram account in order to join Threads.

It's bad enough that Instagram nags me to share to Faceache every time I post.

Quite.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I occasionally read things on twatter. I don't twat.

I will, however, be joining threads, because hopefully success of threads will kill off twatter. Since it descended into an absolute cesspool under the Nole's 'leadership', I'd quite like it to eff off and die.

Meta is at least making some attempt at content moderation on threads.
 

[Kim]

I'm continuing to use Mastodon, where the UI isn't terrible and the people are actually nice (in a pre-September usenet kind of way), if a little lacking in diversity (it's mostly LGBT+ people, tech people, writers, academics, and YACFers).

My twitter feed, when it works, is pretty stagnant these days - a few people who crosspost, some who seem to enjoy arguing with taxi drivers and/or transphobes, various organisations' official accounts that rarely post, one prolific local campaigner, and disabled people who are sticking around because all the other disabled people are sticking around.

I continue to use as little Facebook as possible, so won't be going near Threads with a barge pole.  I'm also too old for Instagram.

[citoyen]

I used to be active on Twitter but lost interest several years ago (it started becoming a cesspool well before Musk got involved). But I became active again about a year or so ago as it is still the primary online communication platform for a particular interest group. I limit the people I engage with to those who are related to that interest group, and only post on that subject, which makes it reasonably bearable.

I just wish those people wouldn't RT stuff unrelated to that subject that I don't want to see. Sigh. (Keeping the scope of your posts narrow and focused is Social Media 101. I think because I take this approach, I have picked up a lot more followers than I would if I posted any old shit.)

If this interest group migrates to Threads, I will probably follow them, but reluctantly.

I use my Instagram account for personal stuff that's mostly unrelated to that subject.

I still look at Facebook occasionally but only to follow friends/family and very rarely post there.

We also have a family WhatsApp group, which is handy for my siblings to share the latest news about what their brilliant offspring have been up to and is easy to ignore.

[Basil]

I just wish those people wouldn't RT stuff unrelated to that subject that I don't want to see. Sigh.

One thing I really like about Mastodon is that you can follow people but if necessary you can mute their 'boosts' (RTs).  I've done this to a couple of accounts.

[citoyen]

I've not got on board with Mastodon yet. I'm a bear of little brain and it all seems too complicated.

[Kim]

I just wish those people wouldn't RT stuff unrelated to that subject that I don't want to see. Sigh. (Keeping the scope of your posts narrow and focused is Social Media 101. I think because I take this approach, I have picked up a lot more followers than I would if I posted any old shit.)

I suppose that depends on whether you want to "do well at social media" or just be a person on the internet.  It's just a thing I use to chat to my friends.  I'm happy for random bike people to follow me, but if they don't care about tech/queer/disability/environmental issues, that's what filters are for^[1].

This is how you make friends with people, and learn new stuff.  On Twitter it was seeing PoC talking about their lived experience of systemic racism.  On Mastodon it seems to be mostly gardening...



_{[1] Ob-rant:  People who make up silly names for things, without considering that this means people need to play wack-a-mole with their filter parameters.}

[Kim]

I've not got on board with Mastodon yet. I'm a bear of little brain and it all seems too complicated.

I really don't understand this argument.  You go to the website, create an account and start posting/reading/following.  Why is this a barrier on Mastodon but not on YACF or Twitter?  It's basically the same process.  Sure, there's a new UI to learn, but Mastodon's is at least designed for the user's convenience rather than to manipulate their behaviours to make them see more shitverts, and is accordingly less bloaty and frustrating.

I can understand "The official client is terrible" or "All the $interest community are on TikTok", but really, the bar's set pretty low.  Have you *seen* Facebook?

[Kim]

I just wish those people wouldn't RT stuff unrelated to that subject that I don't want to see. Sigh.

One thing I really like about Mastodon is that you can follow people but if necessary you can mute their 'boosts' (RTs).  I've done this to a couple of accounts.

Yes, this is excellent.  All we need now is for the timeline to suppress repeat boosts of the same post.

[Mr Larrington]

When Space Karen stopped folks sans Twitter accounts from even viewing his poxy operation I actually created an account*, mostly to follow The Week In Tory.  Which that RussInCheshire immediately said is moving to Mastodon until Muskrat stops being a tit.  If Muskrat is now letting people view it again I might just log out and leave it to fester until he deletes it in a fit of pique.

I have no idea what Instagram is supposed to do.

* which in and of itself made filling in a tax return the very model of a modern Simple Thing.

[Beardy]

I have a Twitter account or two from when it was first created, although I don’t think I’ve tweeted in 10 years or so. I have a Facebook account that I occasionally follow email prompts to, but I don’t post anymore. I did set up a Masterdon account, but I’ve not used it. I think I have an instagram account, but I don’t remember the log in details if I do. I won’t be setting up a Threads account unless someone sets up a group I need to be a member, and given my social habits, that’s rather unlikely.

I post on here and we have a close family What’s app group which just about meets my online interaction needs.

[citoyen]

I suppose that depends on whether you want to "do well at social media" or just be a person on the internet.

It's only about doing well at social media in the sense of trying to ensure my feed is only populated with the stuff I want to see.

This is how you make friends with people, and learn new stuff.

Yes, back in the golden age of Twitter I became friendly with lots of interesting people this way. I even met some of them IRL. But I don't think Twitter works like that any more, alas. The interesting people have been swamped by the bots and ads. My "For you" feed is a bin fire.

Re Mastodon, the initial hurdle of having to choose a server is a significant difference to other social media platforms. And I've not yet seen enough of an incentive in being part of Mastodon to consider it worth bothering. YMMV.

Critical mass. There's not much point to a social media that consists of you and a weird bloke called Darren who collects novelty underpants.

I don't /think/ I'm technically illiterate but Mastodon completely confuses me - and if it's going to get widespread acceptance then it needs serious dumbing down or a different interface from those I've seen to date.

Well, I've joined that, I think, I'm struggling and finding it as user friendly as a cornered rat.

We need to have the server bit too. This is something that confuses new people to mastodon.

^ It was posts like these that put me off making the switch when everyone first started jumping ship from Twitter.

Last word goes to ian:

The problem with something like Mastodon is that if you have to explain to someone how to get it work, you've lost most of them.

[Kim]

Re Mastodon, the initial hurdle of having to choose a server is a significant difference to other social media platforms.

Perhaps, but it's no different from email in that respect, except vastly easier to migrate later.

Seriously, if you're not inclined to skim TEH RULEZ of a few instances to see if their character limits, moderation policy, etc. suits you, you can just sign up for one of the big instances like mastodon.social and move to something better if/when it catches your eye.  It's no more of a hurdle than creating a gmail account.

If you're reading this, you've probably already internalised concepts like reading, writing, cursors, double-clicking, usernames, domain names, that weird https:// thing, passwords, etc.  There's nothing magically difficult about 'instances' as a concept (which is the only really 'new' thing about Mastodon, if you're young enough not to remember the pre-2000s internet) compared to the stuff we all had to learn to get here.  Otherwise it's just the usual learning what the names for things are.

And I've not yet seen enough of an incentive in being part of Mastodon to consider it worth bothering. YMMV.

That bin fire of bots and ads you mentioned?  It isn't one.  By design.  YMMV.

Critical mass. There's not much point to a social media that consists of you and a weird bloke called Darren who collects novelty underpants.

Again it's one of those YMMV things.  There's not much point to a social media that has less than 1000 active users, who ostensibly spend their time discussing a niche mode of transport...

[Kim]

Anyway, learning curve of Mastodon aside, I'm not sure how Bluesky or this Threads thing count as an alternative to Twitter.  Ultimately, they're still the same harvesting-users'-data-and-attention-for-profit business model, and will have the same life-cycle and the same fundamental problems, until they implode in a puff of finance.  The only reason to tolerate any of them is because that's where a community you're interested in has decided to make its home, or because it's a decent way to find a lot of eyeballs to market your whatever to, which means there's no point in choosing them based on political or technical merit.  You just go where the novelty underpants enthusiasts are; where your family have decided to do Forward Planning; or where your videos will reach the most eyeballs.

[citoyen]

it's no different from email in that respect

An interesting parallel. I've been knocking around long enough to remember when email discussion groups (powered by listserv etc) were a thing. In fact, I met my wife through an email group, which I joined in ~1995. The group only exists as a Facebook page these days but I am still in touch with lots of good friends I made through that group.

When I first joined it, I didn't have to go through the process of setting up an account because I used my work email address, which was the only email address I had at the time.

That bin fire of bots and ads you mentioned?  It isn't one.  By design.  YMMV.

Indeed. Which is why it's no good pretending that you can still use Twitter like it used to be in the good old days.

Still, at least it isn't TikTok.

[citoyen]

The only reason to tolerate any of them is because that's where a community you're interested in has decided to make its home

This is very much the key point!

[Mr Larrington]

The only reason to tolerate any of them is because that's where a community you're interested in has decided to make its home

This is very much the key point!

This ^^^^  It’s only because the BHPC and WHPSC largely abandoned their respective fora for Farcebok that I actually bother with Mr Zuckerberg's Walled Garden.

[vorsprung]

I've not got on board with Mastodon yet. I'm a bear of little brain and it all seems too complicated.

It's easy

I am on on the same "server" as Kim and the people are loverly.  it would be nice if there was some more politics news on it

[rogerzilla]

It's all about critical mass.  If everyone you want to follow is on Twitter, Twitter is where you stay.  There can be seismic shifts, like MySpace to Faecebook, but they initially had different markets: MySpace was for the hoipolloi but Facebook was for grads and older people.  As the more aspirational platform, it picked up MySpace users until it achieved critical mass and MySpace was essentially finished.

I think there's only room in the market for one social media platform of a given genre.  Zuckerbot may win against Twitter, given that Twitter is run by an erratic madman, but two out of the big three (Twitter, Threads and Mastodon) will be backwaters.  It's not like cycling forums, which have a kind of tribalism and no global pretensions.

[Mrs Pingu]

This is my issue with Twitter, mainly I use it to read politics goss and satire with a side order of mad cat people. I have managed to get the mad cat stuff on Mastodon but last time I looked there wasn't the critical mass of politics journalists and other knowledgeable people to fulfill that space for me. (Or at least it's not working in the way I want it to)