@lukasros I've always had a love/hate relationship with Twitter. This is just one of the hate phases. :P
Clearly I sparked a discussion here… and something broke my ability to get to the website to participate… and I got busy.
Nice to know I can still occasionally back together a shell script or two, learn enough SQLite to be dangerous, and make stuff work.
It's easy to think that we could own our data when data existed entirely in books, photographs, or the contents of our mind.
Once that information is digitized and put on a network, you no longer have any control over it.
Mastodon itself is interesting technology. Rather than a central, single instance like we have with Pnut/10C, anyone can set up their own instance of it. Those instances can operate under the own rules.
What sets Mastodon apart: Federation. Federation allows you to follow people on another instance. Likewise, people can follow me on the various instances I'm on.
It's kinda like email in how people can reach you and that you can have multiple identities.
This gives you the benefits of a small community like we have with Pnut/10C with the global reach of a larger network, thanks to all the instances. Further, if one instance folds, or the one you're on sucks for some reason, join another.
The fact that the Twitters, Facebooks, and Googles of the world will have a difficult time monetizing or controlling the network is a feature, not a bug.
I've just coined a new term for Twitter: The Birdshite. Because that's what it seems like it is now.
There's probably another side to this United story, but those images of the bloodied guy getting dragged off the plane are going to be difficult to expunge from people's minds.
@kdfrawg took me several tries to get it assembled. I have no desire to do it again.
@kdfrawg no, you don't want to do that. It's bad enough when you have to replace a lightbulb.