Been working on a new project the last couple of months and it’s finally ready for beta release!
#Fedimeister is a #Java based #Mastodon client (available for #Linux, #Windows and #MacOS under the Apache #opensource license) with a focus on #writing and #journalism. Features:
* Break long texts into threads
* Scheduled posting
* Hashtag research
* #Twitter quote tweeting emulation
@LucyWildboots @jo @jupiter_rowland There are strong feelings on both sides of this, which is going to result in emotive language.
I’ve definitely seen celebrities dunking on small accounts and driving them off Twitter. But also, I use QT myself - mostly to add context or to refer back to my own previous posts.
@LucyWildboots @jo @jupiter_rowland My confirmation bias means I believe all the studies saying it’s not the tool that causes harassment, as people intent on harassing will use any method available, including simple replies, to cause harm. The fix is cultural, not technical, although speed bumps and guide rails probably help to nudge behaviour away from unwanted and towards more positive community behaviour. Maybe.
@MetalSamurai @jo @jupiter_rowland
‘It’s not the gun that kills people. It’s people using the guns who kill people?’
Am I the only one old enough to remember that canard from the NRA in America? And America, because it loves its guns, buys into it. So we create laws that nudge gun rights this way and that without ever really getting anywhere. And when something bad happens we wring our hands and offer thoughts and prayers. And Europe, with it’s own bloody past, looks on condescendingly and tsks.
‘QTs don’t hurt people. People using QTs hurt people.’
So how many QTs have to hurt someone before we admit they can be used as weapons of verbal war and treat them accordingly and where are the ‘tskers’?
Note: This is an analogy for those who don’t recognize them as such. This is not a position one way or another on guns or gun control.
@LucyWildboots@c.im yet there is a mountain of scientific evidence clearly pointing to the accessibility of guns as a major predictor of gun violence, while the same can not be said about the accessibility of QT Vs. Other forms of abuse, If I understand Jo’s thorough review correctly
@MetalSamurai@mas.to @jo@blahaj.zone @jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu
@aRubes There’s a mountain of evidence on guns because we’ve been fighting over them for decades. We’ve been arguing about QTs both here and on Twitter since they were implemented ~10 years ago.
@jo @MetalSamurai @jupiter_rowland
@LucyWildboots@c.im it’s not as if there’s no evidence at at all, though, that supports the claim that it is not the accessibility of the QT button that drives abuse.
Just as individuals’ stories can not be brushed aside it can not be brushed aside.
Anyway, As it stands now you are relying on one person’s or one term’s decision, I believe, and that can not be counted on long-term. We have seen mastodon give up on some of its traditional principles.
Assuming for the sake of the argument that it is indeed the availability of that button that significantly promotes abuse, I believe that in the long run the problem can only be solved by
@jo@blahaj.zone @MetalSamurai@mas.to @jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu
@aRubes
Why fork? To have #Mastodon with QTs?
No need for a fork. “Mastodon with QTs” already exists. #Pleroma, #Akkoma, #MissKey, #CalcKey, #FoundKey etc.
In fact, they’re all Mastodon with QTs and with text formatting. Just not with the exact same UI/UX as Mastodon because they’re independent projects.
@Jo (she/her) @LucyWildboots 🏳️🌈
@jupiter_rowland @jo @LucyWildboots The simple fact that the people complaining about quote-brokeness insist on using the term “quote tweets” tells us everything we need to know.
@LucyWildboots@c.im 37 studies dispel the myth that it’s quote tweets that were the problem on Twitter. Sorry, but those who keep saying it is despite the wealth of evidence and the reality that the #Fediverse operates on completely different mechanisms to the other place, are engaging in unsubstantiated moral panic. There are 1 million users on Fediverse platforms that have a quote post feature, most of them on microblogging platforms like #Calckey #Misskey #Akkoma that are similar to #Mastodon and interact at-large with Mastodon users.
https://blahaj.zone/notes/9a4skxq0lw
@MetalSamurai@mas.to @jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu
@jo @MetalSamurai @jupiter_rowland @LucyWildboots Not exactly disputing those studies, but every time I got dogpiled at the other place, it was because a large account had QT’d me to tens of thousands of their own followers with some snarky comment. That hasn’t happened so far on the fedi.
Granted, I have hundreds of followers rather than the thousands I had over there, and try to keep a lower profile, but still… 🤔
@BarrenPlanet @fediversenews @jo @MetalSamurai @jupiter_rowland @LucyWildboots Be patient with this old guy for a second who’s never been dogpiled.
This post of yours I’m responding to has an image of your post - took all of 1-2 seconds. If a malicious actor did this plus put your handle in text making it easy for their sub-human malicious sycophants to find you, is this any different from a native QT re: enabling dogpiling?
@amart it is not different on Masto. You can QT now on Masto, but it’s kludgy as I think you discovered. On Frendica you can easily QT or you can turn QT off in your settings. CalKey and several others also have QT. But these apps are tiny compared to Masto.
So the discussion isn’t really QT doesn’t already exist and must never be created. It’s more a discussion of “Why don’t we onboard people to the best tool for them be it Masto, Calkey, Frendica or Pixelfed” vs “we want easy QT on Masto because that’s where we’ve been for a whole four months and moving is hard.”
It is also a discussion on why we allow tools to be improved and propagated without ever discussing the damage those tools have historically caused others and what damage to others they are willing to risk to get a tool they can already have if they simply changed from Masto to a half dozen other apps.
I believe that Masto will eventually get some form of QT. What I hope is that we will get all the backend tools that will be needed to support 13 million people better than Twitter and Facebook ever did. That we will get onboarding not just for Masto but also for the fediverse as a whole. That we will get dozens of other tools and features we need more first.
@BarrenPlanet @fediversenews @jo @MetalSamurai @jupiter_rowland
@LucyWildboots 🏳️🌈
Exactly what I’ve been preaching for months.
People: “We need QT on Mastodon!1!!”
Me: “Go switch to Akkoma or CalcKey, and you’ve got Mastodon with QT right now and with enough other features on top to not make you demand any more features from Eugen or anyone else anytime soon!”
@jupiter_rowland I mean we could leave Eugen alone but no dev EVER accused me of being satisfied with everything. So I suspect I’ll always be one of those wanting more. But…
Yes, we’re onboarding to Masto instead of onboarding to the Fediverse and that is skewing everything from dev cycles to forcing people to move. So for you and I, the only thing we have left to argue about is how hard it is to move.
Now I would not want to be you and have to move. Because you will lose a lot of things you have built over time. But I doubt most people will have that many things to lose if they’ve only been around for 3-4 months. So here is my experience: I moved about 350 followers from .lol to c.im in less than 30 minutes. I then moved part of those 350 followers to Pixelfed and part to Frendica manually (that was painful). I lost two hashtag searches that I had to recreate and that took 3 minutes?
But lost in all discussions about how or whether it is hard are discussions about the fact that you can move at all. I mean it’s not close to perfect, but it’s better than anyone else has come up with so far.
@jupiter_rowland Is it really actually hard to move to a different service? Never tried before.