Just a bit of big industry news to cover today, as an update to the previous article talking about Elon Musk and Twitter — as the sale has completed. Plus a reminder on Mastodon and Nextcloud doing some fun social stuff too.
To get one thing out of the way: no, this is not gaming news, but we've covered big industry stuff for years. In this specific case, we (or should I say I), use Twitter a lot for sharing our news and interacting with people, spreading info about Linux gaming, Steam Deck and more. Follow GOL on Twitter here, our account is not going anywhere anytime soon.
It's certainly going to be interesting to see what happens, with changes already underway. For one, Musk said Twitter is now building up a "content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints" and that the verification process (where you get a blue tick) is also being revamped and they're even reportedly looking at charging people to stay verified.
Seems like a good time to remind people of alternatives, like Mastodon. We're on it too and have been for a long time now, you can follow GOL on Mastodon here. It's a little different to Twitter since it's open source and federated, it works a lot more like email: you sign up anywhere, or host your own, and then chat with everyone.
Linking into that, Nextcloud announced their own "Nextcloud Social" platform which will ship in Nextcloud by default, and it will have support for the the Activity Pub standard and Mastodon directly too. That could be interesting, as they have quite a lot of people using it.
Quoting: GuestQuoting: dvdLet's be honest, this just means they won't ban as many nazis and dogwhistles will be probably OK there now. On an additional note, the reactionaries are such big fucking snowflakes: even as a non-american it's pretty clear that their propaganda flows freely from all mainstream sources. Censorship, of course... Crybabies...Fighting nazism is affairs of law enforcement, not twitter's lol. If you see a nazi doing nazi things, write a report to police, maybe?
It's not like they'd do anything about it. And these platforms cynically play it off because it drives their ad money.
Quoting: GuestFighting nazism is affairs of law enforcement, not twitter's lol. If you see a nazi doing nazi things, write a report to police, maybe?
The Nazi party wasn't some criminal organization that attained political power. It relied on the large amount of hatred towards various groups and worked with that. Antisemitic and bigoted dog whistles aren't illegal. Same goes for stochastic terrorism. The Nazi party rose to power using that hate. Now due to what the Naxi party did it has become heavily politically incorrect to be just outright with that hatred which is why the many many dog whistles are used. However the people that spread this hate are letting the mask slip and being more and more open about it and stuff like the twitter take over has only emboldened them. The only thing that's going to keep twitter from turning into a complete crapshow is that advertisers do not want to be associated with the worst of it which is why Elon's first announcement was pretty much begging the advertisers to stay telling them that he won't let it get too bad.
Last edited by Theodis on 1 November 2022 at 1:15 am UTC
As for Twitter, it'll be nice to have equal representation of both sides of the political spectrum for a change. Not sure how we can arrive at the best solutions if half the conversation is muted.
Quoting: psyminEveryone should get on Mastodon or another federated social media system :)Well, except for those of us curmudgeons who don't do social media at all.
Quoting: Renzatic GearQuoting: Mountain ManOne of Joe Biden's many whoppers has already been flagged with an "additional context" notice. That would have never happened under the previous leadership.
I'm pretty sure our news sources fact checking our presidents has been a thing since at least the late 18th century.
First, Twitter isn't a news organization. And second, this is, to my knowledge, the first time Twitter has "fact checked" Joe Biden despite his many, many questionable statements.
Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: psyminEveryone should get on Mastodon or another federated social media system :)Well, except for those of us curmudgeons who don't do social media at all.
And yet, here you are in a comment section.
I am very intelligent.
Quoting: LanzAs for Twitter, it'll be nice to have equal representation of both sides of the political spectrum for a change.Well, both of what Americans fondly imagine to be sides of the political spectrum. In real life, the American political spectrum runs from far right (and socially reactionary) to only fairly far right (and socially liberal). I expect, yes, Twitter will be allowing that whole spectrum to express itself.
Quoting: NezchanWell, yes. This is media, and it is fairly sociable. But I don't do the things that have been artificially set apart as being social media.Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: psyminEveryone should get on Mastodon or another federated social media system :)Well, except for those of us curmudgeons who don't do social media at all.
And yet, here you are in a comment section.
I am very intelligent.
Quoting: Mountain ManI agree that Biden makes many questionable statements. Biden usually lies the way politicians always used to lie in the old days--by omission, by half-truth, by implication. And there isn't that much a fact-checker can say about that kind of thing.Quoting: Renzatic GearQuoting: Mountain ManOne of Joe Biden's many whoppers has already been flagged with an "additional context" notice. That would have never happened under the previous leadership.
I'm pretty sure our news sources fact checking our presidents has been a thing since at least the late 18th century.
First, Twitter isn't a news organization. And second, this is, to my knowledge, the first time Twitter has "fact checked" Joe Biden despite his many, many questionable statements.
There is a contrast here with Trump, who just lies constantly by simply saying the flat out opposite of reality--simple downright factual lies. Indeed, often things that are the opposite of other things he also said. Many Republican figures seem to have decided to emulate him. It's a very different style (and volume) of falsehood. But it's also something fact-checkers can readily check: These people are claiming things are facts which are totally not facts.
(Biden does sometimes outright lie, but it's usually something the media has already popularized, the kind of lie you can't question without being unpatriotic, like "The United States has the best (X) on earth" or "US intentions in 'international leadership' are benevolent" or such like)
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