Update: A Regrettable Reconsideration

NinaIllingworth November 28, 2022November 28, 2022 algorithm, algos, Amerikan Musik, AnarchoNinaWrites, Andy Ngo, anti-LGBTQ hate speech, anti-trans pogrom, anticapitalism, antifa, antifascism, beginner guides, capitalism, capitalist fuckery, content serving algorithms, Discord, eliminationism, Elon Musk, FA1, fascism, fascist project, fascist propaganda, hate speech, homophobia, Journals, Kiwi Farms, Media, MP6, Musk Twitter, new user guide, NIDC, Nina Illingworth, onboarding, online fascism, online harassment, Pavlichenko Appreciation Society, Politics, Pork Reich, Site Updates, social media, transphobia, Twitter, Twitter is a fascist website, Twitter is a hate site, Weimar America, Wired

“All the same, I should like it all plain and clear” – Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit

That Escalated Quickly

Well folks, it’s pretty safe to say this going to be an awkward post. Recently, I told my readers and associates that I would be vastly scaling back my use of Twitter; in effect demoting the service to a back up role in my social media spread. In writing about why I took this decision, I was extremely clear that my problem was Twitter’s new owner, billionaire fraud Elon Musk, and that Musk himself was unquestionably a fascist. At that time, I also offered up a studied prediction about what Musk’s takeover would mean for the service going forward; from that post:

“What purchasing Twitter will give Musk (and by extension, his fascist friends) is a giant megaphone from which to spout fascist ideology, socially harmful disinformation, and the type of raw hatred we see being aimed at the marginalized, to grow this fascist movement. Furthermore, the army of liars, hatemongers, and propagandists working to put fascism over the top in the Pig Empire is already intimately familiar with how to use that megaphone to tear society apart, and profit from exploiting the open wounds that are left behind – after all, Twitter is where they started the plot to capture the nerve center of the Pig Empire; the White House.

Elon Musk buying Twitter is no laughing matter; it’s a disaster for what passes for democracy in our society.”

Astonishingly, many observers, including people who should know better, chose to define those statements as “alarmist.” You would think that after at least five years of challenging the lady who obsessively studies fascism, these folks would get tired of being wrong; but here we are regardless. In retrospect, I clearly wasn’t alarmist enough, given the speed with which Musk is actively transforming Twitter into a slightly more polished version of Kiwi Farms as we speak. This will be readily apparent to anyone who isn’t a reactionary piece of dogshit, so I’m not going to waste a lot of time proving the point here. If that makes you froggy, I encourage you to argue with the citations instead:

Elon Musk’s Anti-Trans Twitter Regime

Musk never cared if Twitter was a business failure: he wants a political win

Selling Empty Dreams

Hopefully friends, you’ll forgive me for being a little terse in this stage of the fascist creep. Personally, I find it pretty alarming that I still have to explain that an edgelord billionaire with an axe to grind, who responds to a fascist hatecrime against the LGBTQ community by purposely inviting the homophobic reactionaries pushing anti-trans eliminationist ideology back onto his hate site, at great personal cost, is definitely a fascist. When that same billionaire freakjob is hanging around online casually taking ban requests targeting antifascist accounts from open neo-nazis and collaborator scum like Andy Ngo, well folks we’re now officially inside a meme:

Appropriate Response

Naturally as a terminally online trans antifascist writer, I find these developments concerning; vexing even. If the issue was just my personal safety however, I probably wouldn’t feel obligated to write this post. The problem is I understand explicitly how a social media site like Twitter works. Even just marketing my work on Twitter, now means I’m producing content for a fascist honey trap, and doing my small part to keep people inside that trap. On a purely personal level, I don’t see how that’s a trade off I can live with anymore. I apologize for revisiting my decision to scale back my usage so quickly, but effective immediately; I will no longer be posting anything at all on Twitter.

There will of course be those reading this who disagree with my position for one reason or another; either because they feel an obligation to stay on Twitter and fight online fascism, or they’ve become the very proverbial frog in a boiling pot of water. I bear those folks no particular ill will, but I don’t see how you can really fight fascism against a push algorithm controlled by a billionaire nazi who would very much prefer eliminationist ideology spreads across his website, and antifascist thought does not. I do however wish you luck with all that.

Washing Out in Weimar America

All of which brings us to what I’m going to do about this problem; or rather, what I have been doing about it. Recently, I mentioned that I started fiddling around with Mastodon again, and I posted an invite to the Discord server that has grown up around my work. Today I am happy to report that both of those “solutions” are working out; albeit one more than the other. Conversely, I’m utterly exasperated with Facebook’s content serving algorithm and I’ve more or less come to the conclusion that it’s a waste of energy trying to build a community around my writing there. Finally I should note that encouraging people to subscribe here on NIDC has been a mixed bag; although it’s fair to say I haven’t really tried to get folks to sign up yet.

In terms of onboarding for our Discord server; I’m not sure there’s much to say. For an absolute beginner’s guide to using Discord, check out this recent article on Wired. Otherwise, my advice is to just click on the invite link and start posting. Once you join our server, you’ll be taken to a general chat room called the “Pavlichenko Appreciation Society” and on the left hand side of the screen, you’ll see a clickable list of all our (busier) chat rooms as well. Naturally, this is a moderated server; we have zero tolerance for fascists, collaborators, or lurking chat loggers. A simple hello post will help tell the mods you’re not there to pee in the pool. Finally if all you’re looking for is the room where I post links to my articles, you can find it here under “Nina Writing Discussion.”

The Elephant’s Room

Mastodon however, is a trickier, and in my experience far more rewarding beast when it comes to Twitter alternatives. Once again, you can find a beginner’s guide for using Mastodon in a recent article on Wired. To this I would add two general bits of friendly advice that will help maximize how fast you start enjoying Mastodon, and stop missing Twitter. First while server performance and moderation quality differ greatly on each Mastodon instance, it literally doesn’t matter which one you sign up with first; I’d start with one of the big servers, like Social, and then migrate to a better one once you’ve made some friends. Additionally, because Mastodon has no push algorithm, your experience will be drastically affected by how many people you follow. Use the “Local” and “Federated” buttons to find new people and follow liberally to fill up your “Home” timeline; you can always unfollow them later.

As for a testimonial, I would simply state that I am extremely happy with how my Mastodon experience has gone here in 2022. Although I’ve only been posting regularly again for a couple of weeks now, both my feed and the number of folks who’ve followed me have grown quickly and organically. My writing is reaching more readers than it has for quite some time on Twitter, and I feel foolish for not responding to my Christmas 2020 targeted banning by investing more of my energy in growing my presence on Mastodon. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when the algorithm isn’t actively suppressing your content; I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m having a blast on Mastodon. If you’re looking to reconnect with me there, hit me up at @AnarchoNinaWrites@mastodon.social and let me know you read NIDC; I’ll happily follow back and be your first Mastodon mate.

Alright then folks, that’s more or less everything I came here to say. I apologize for the interruption and believe me, I have no desire to spend this much time talking about social media again, any time soon. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.