Unlike other shitty social media sites, you need an account with Bluesky to view anything. So please take a screenshot if you want to post something on this board. Otherwise, from this point forward, every post with a Bluesky link will be reported as spam and a violation of the "general asshole" provision in accordance with the Wordforge Rules. kthanks bye
Just don't. Find a legit source and link that. If you can't be arsed, I can't be bothered to read and respond. Same for that X site formerly known as Twitter.
Twitter came about because the long version with information was way too hard for the little brains so they needed a site that had nothing but a simple headline or motto that told them what to think in 144 character limit that their sad fucking brains could process. It was the little bus for the internet. some people use it as a quick reference to the bigger article, but most people use it because thinking hurts them.
And any minute now, someone's going to find the files on Hunter Biden's laptop that prove not only was President Biden involved in corrupt business dealings with Burisma, but that he's a time-traveling space alien, who was the shooter on the Grassy Knoll.
One of the most appealing things about Twitter was the fact you could learn about a developing situation on the ground as it happened, rather than waiting for a news media site to get up off its ass and check it out.
One of the problems with Twitter and blue sky is that everyone posting those linkls puts their personal biases, lies, and political message within those posts. So, I get some pictures that are interesting and designed to get the most views, but all the insight from the person is a load of garbage they want to tell me. So, maybe there is info there, but I do not have any way to see who that person is and what they are trying to spread. I just have some rando trying to get likes and views by posting the worst thing they can to get attention. Thinking about it that is sort of like the news. Maybe that is why people confuse twitter with news. It is a limited view of only the most disgusting and perverse images designed to get views and fame by focusing on the worst dregs of society. About the only thing I could see twitter or blue sky being good for is small defined groups like medical professionals who post immediate new articles for the professionals to go to get more info. However, without moderation of who posts and filtering out the noise it is no good, and this is why real pros do not use non-moderated shit to keep up on things. You certainly cannot have a secure scientific twitter group with Elon Musk forcing lies and bullshit into your thread. There are better systems out there. I cannot even imagine using Twitter as your battle communications. It is insecure, easily infiltrated, and open to misinformation and leaking real time movements to the enemy. The only way that works is when your opponent is as awful as Russia.
And given some of the bullshit that the NYT regularly runs, it's a bit of a stretch to call them "legitimate" anymore. And we probably never should have done that, given things like this.
Sometimes the commentary on the social media site IS the content being shared - for which there is no other source to cite.
Nah. That kind of condescension simply indicates a lack of familiarity with how it's used. Or was B.E. Not to say that there wasn't always a simmering level of shitposters trying to troll or misinform, that's any such place with any significant traffic. Trolls are naturally drawn like flies to those who CAN be trolled. But laying that aside, just speaking from my own experience: 1. I follow all the beat-writers and fellow bloggers associated with the Toronto Blue Jays. It's very common you pick up info in their posts that you wouldn't get from some linked "legit" source until much later and often not at all. If you're not watching the game, the comments people make about what just happened are much more informative than a line in a gameday boxscore. 2. I follow I'd guess close to a dozen well regarded historians who often post direct takes on the current news event, offering context or slapping down some reactionary lies, as well as directing attention to something they may have written some place with in-depth analysis that I might not otherwise have known about. Also they will highlight when they appear on some podcast I might want to listen to. 3. I follow a handful of people who are in entertainment (Anson Mount, for example) who might post something of interest to me that I'll never pick up from all the "articles" that I don't possibly have time to read through every day 4. which is an important point about all of these - no one has the hours in a day to read every potential relevant (to my interest) articles in the NYT, WP, and every other "legitimate" source of information - Twitter serves as a "highlight reel" in which people who share my interests often direct my attention to things I'd never have known about otherwise 5. I follow many prominent trans reporters, activists, and thinkers and the same as above applies here - no way I can scan all the "legit" sources for every law proposed or passed, or court decision, or terrorist attack, or whatever it might be related to trans dignity and equality, to say nothing of research papers and other scientific sources. In all these cases And I haven't yet mentioned the several experts on authoritarianism, or the several accepting ministers, or the several local news outlets without whom I'd be unaware of a lot of shit that goes down in MS and TN that concerns me. Twitter serves as an aggregator of things I'll likely want to know about (assuming I curate my follows well) On top of that, you get random joy-drops when people post photos of their pets or funny videos of animal behavior, friendly interaction with people you'd not have met otherwise (I have as many online friends among the jays bloggers as I do here, and for almost as long - people I'd never have interacted with in a significant way absent Twitter. Moreover, i can interact directly with relatively high profile thinkers and writers like those historians, or climate/environment writer Dave Roberts, or entertainment types like Kirk Acevado (who was in our private Warren supporters group) in a way that simply doesn't happen in any other settings. It's pleasant to be treated as an equal by those who have a higher social standing than you. In short, Twitter is what you make of it and reflects you, not them. Even now, other than performance issues I quite enjoy the Twitter experience because I MADE it an enjoyable experience. If you find it shitty, you probably aren't good at using it well. The drawback is that my personality is such that I want to see EVERYTHING posted by those I've chosen to follow and I have to remind myself to accept that some days I don't have enough time to do so and accept that there's something out there I missed.
For example, this which I just happened to pass by. This comment is of interest to me, and not to be found elsewhere In other cases, that kind of comment might be something so generally relevant that I choose to share the observation with people on other sites like this or Facebook - and there's no not-social-media source for it. Because it's an observation or analysis or commentary that doesn't exist in a formal article elsewhere. Such as this
Nazis are obsessed with nooses and gas. Both methods of asphyxia. Someone look into the criminal psychology behind that, it might be important.
I am aware it is a tool, and some people have a preference towards a certain style of tool. However, it is not just that. For instance a hammer is a tool that one can use so delicately and intricately that they can carve beautiful intricate lines, or even remove debris from delicate artifacts. However, what is a hammer for most people as a tool? it is something used to smash or push something clumsily into something else. On top of that, when a company who makes hammers starts to only sell a 5 pound version made of glass you stop using them and go to another manufacturer. But not in the case of twitter. I am going to start there. I have been around on the internet for much longer than twitter, as have other people. I have used the internet for the propagation of scientific and technical information. Anyone who has been around ion academics knows there have been many forms of propagation tools. Twitter is the worst most basic one. It was not designed to bring any information. If you are using it for information it is a substandard tool. It may be one in the box, but it is like using a fork to mix together batter. It does the job, but the only reason you would use it is because you need an alternative because you used up all your good tools, you are somewhere where you don't have good tools, or you are for some other reason using the wrong tool. Twitter is just a variation off of texting. It was made for the purpose of being a less involved way of viewing the world, and people adapted more involved uses to it while ignoring the more involved tools out there. For instance, why the fuck would you need to make a sectioned tweet? WTF is that? We have proper forms of communication for a long form discussion. You are chopping up long involved explanations to fit 144 characters. When I am texting and the text becomes too long I go to email because who wants to read a long involved email in text? Also, I was happy to use text over a long conversation I had in emails. I used to have emails that were quote threaded back and forth responses because email was the only form of DM I had convenient at the time. I do this too on tech boards. That is why I do not find any need to go to twitter where some rando can start inserting comments into the thread. At least FB limits who can come around into your discussion, but who the fuck wants some rando idiot who just happened to see a shiny part of a discussion just pop in and dive bomb a stupid comment. I get you can try to filter out that shit, but you are wasting effort. I get twitter could be used to advertise the discussion, but do not have the discussion on twitter. It is like trying to talk in the middle of an auditorium with everyone shouting over each other. This is about the only reason why I might ever want to follow someone on twitter. This is actually a real reason to use it. I would agree that this is a purpose where you should go to a twitter if that is what you want. Before Elon I just found that not my thing. George Takai may be an interesting guy, but I do not need to hear all of his thoughts. The problem I have now is you have other places to get this info, and twitter has gone full on toxic right wing. It is unfortunate, but it has crossed that line for me where it is directly fighting against me being me because of toxic elon. I could live with the reality that individuals were using it against me, but now it is being weaponized by it's owner directly against the GLBT community. That makes it time to kill it with fire. Again, I have other tools that do this sort of thing better than twitter. Twitter is actually one of the worst ways to do this that I have found. The fucking Drudge Report would be better at this than Twitter. Twitter was designed to be an alternative to texting. There is no other way? Twitter was not the first, or even close to the only way to do this sort of thing. That is like telling me a hammer is the only way to fix my dishwasher. There are a billion ways to do that sort of thing. The reason I do not care for twitter is because I know a lot of other ways to get non-poisoned moderated good information. I have done tech support for major OS and other programs. I have had to deal with looking to immediate information to find solutions to tech problems. You have to filter out twitter noise, and there are so many other places that do that. I have interacted "directly" with some people on social media sites when I follow them. They don't know who I am from responding to one of my comments. They do not look your shit up and find out about you and respect you as a person like you have done with them. Just because they talked to you doesn't mean they know you, unless they know you. This is the illusion of followers and friends online. I am not saying you cannot make longtime real friends online, because I have. 99.9999 percent of those people don't know you, and you don't know them just because you talked. I talked for as good half an hour to andrew lincoln at a small convention. He doesn't know me. I was not his equal. I ran some scenario games and would see people and would engage with them, and I like them, but they were mu customers and followers. Followers and customers are not your equal in a social arrangement. Again, it is the hammer analogy. I love using a hammer to smash things, but it is not a good tool when I want to do fine work. I could use it to open a bottle of wine, and that would be fun because I love breaking glass and smashing things, and I might even be good enough with it that I could drink the wine afterwards. I am going to use the corkscrew or the fun air pump thing instead, because I get more benefit out of not using shit tools for the wrong purpose.
two brief points: My comments are not a specific defense of Elon Twitter or the idea that only Twitter could serve this purpose - at least two alternatives recently launched seem to have the same potential if/when they develop a user base that offers the sort of people I follow It's the TYPE of platform I am defending. Secondly, I don't NEED the specific historian (or beat writer or whomever) to know who I am or care what I've (not) accomplished. The interaction on Twitter is leveling, I can't make a comment agreeing or quibbling with what they said, or seeking clarification or whatever and if I'm decently respectful we can interact in the form of equals - even though it's me who's the internet rando who stumbled over a shiny object. Oh, and also, I learned long ago that I do not always even know about the particular communities in which any given group of professionals interact, if I do membership is probably filtered to exclude people like me, and if it were not I'd never have time to spend any significant interaction on all of them separately. Hell, I'm an active member of precisely ONE such community (this one) anymore and I often go days not finding the time to visit. Thus the "highlight reel" comment.
But this is what you are telling me is the only way you can do things. Please do calm down a little bit. I am beginning to understand you might be having trouble with some things because you might not be aware of how much access there is and how you can get there. I am not aware of your professional situation, and you have done an admirable amount of research and education for yourself using a tool like twitter. Before I go on, that is amazing and dedicated. It sounds like you are trying to do really awesome things with a very useless tool. I am saying this from the know. These people who you know on twitter are communicating in much better areas and ways. Ask them where they go and what resources they use. I have worked in environments where I had to do real time troubleshooting of issues that were evolving across multiple professional industries. Even in that instantly reactive situation I would have never looked to twitter. It is too slow and not good. The fact that you have used it so well, and you have used it well, tells me that you could be doing so much more for yourself if you looked deeper than twitter for what you are doing. I am telling you this out of respect. I do not respect @Tuckerfan. He is a moron and his tool fits him. You are an intellectual using child's communication system to do awesome things. I do not know exactly what you are doing, but for the in depth threaded topical professional info you are spinning your wheels in the slick of twitter. I cannot tell you where to go for the specificity of what you may be doing, but if you can get responses from people on twitter who are in the fields you wish to communicate in, ask them what their professional tools are. There has to be better out there, because there is better out there.
Oh, look, it turns out that the NYT is even worse than we thought. Imagine that. https://bsky.app/profile/nberlat.bsky.social/post/3k6ljcyhugv2i
