Got a note from the MacOS X Guru that the archive page hadn't been updated since April. Doh! That's an area of the marmot that hasn't been automated yet. I've updated the page, and I'll think about the automation as time and brain cells permit.

Jack joined 500 Social, Kev Quirk's "small online community." I considered joining, but I don't think I'm among the target demographic. I like the idea of a small social network, but I think that part of the goal is not only to constrain the size of the network, it's also to constrain the experience. And it seems like, to many people, not just Kev, that means constraining what topics can be discussed. That means active moderation and enforced compliance with expectations.

Those expectations all seem reasonable, except the last one.

I'll acknowledge that it doesn't say that "politics" is forbidden, but the fact that you're required to put it behind a content warning is pretty telling. I really don't care for content warnings, in general. Yeah, I know people can be upset, or hurt by certain kinds of content. Friends of mine who've had miscarriages have had unwelcome emotions stirred when people post about new births, and there are probably as many potential interactions like that as there are people.

I think content warnings are less about protecting other people's feelings and more about imposing some form of prior restraint on others based on some imagined, superior, privileged ideological position.

Yeah, "We don't talk about sex, politics or religion in the wardroom," but the wardroom is a more intimate space, that people can't avoid. Participating in a social network of any size, large or small, is an elective action. I elected to leave, though I admit that I miss the immediacy of posts and interactions. My experience on Mastodon was only a very tiny fraction of the amount of interaction I experienced on Twitter. In most respects, it was little different than posting here on the marmot. Mostly just shouting into the void to no discernible effect. That was the problem with Twitter, in that the amount of interaction absorbed so much of my time and attention, and that in pursuing that interaction, I was exposed to the vitriol and toxicity of others that I found ultimately depressing.

And the unpleasant fact is that everything today is political. Ok, that's an over-broad generalization. But "technology" is inherently, much to our surprise, chagrin and everlasting regret, political. The problem isn't "political speech" per se, it's that we've lost the ability to engage in political speech that isn't overtly tribal and zero-sum. I don't know how to fix that, and I'm not proposing to try.

If there is a "public square" anymore, where we ought to be able to try to hash those things out, it seems to me that it's in those "small social networks," unless they're intended to be bespoke bubbles where it's all just happy talk and we never have difficult conversations.

Anyway, the marmot is here. I get to say what I want. People are free to respond, though hardly anyone ever does. And that's okay too. I'm old, I'm tired and I don't know that I have the patience anymore to engage with people who aren't interested in having a conversation, just a zero-sum, "I'm right and you're wrong," debate.

Maybe blogs are just better in that regard. "Social media," is too easy to permit thoughtful interactions, too easy to wound or offend. I'm sure I can wound or offend here in the marmot, but it's never the point of a post.

No worries though. That's the great virtue of the void, no risk of it filling up, or anything being unwelcome.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:33 Sunday, 28 July 2024