Online Political Forum(s)

[Huntn]

How much do you like screaming into the void? Twitter feels a lot like that at times because it's such a fire hose. It's not really built for the same sort of interaction that forums and the like are. Facebook is getting increasingly like Twitter with how much junk they shove into the feed and how random their algorithm gets.

I actually like Discord for smaller curated groups where it's more like a group chat, or I don't really care if I miss stuff because search exists (i.e. topic discords).

I like Discord* for Voice Comms only, but the scrolling text part is just like all scrolling chat formats, a mess when you want to go find info that was posted previously. A forum structure is superior in all aspects.

*I also use Team Speak with no scrolling chat (I think).

 

[Huntn]

Anyone using IceCubes app on their phone with Mastodon? I’m realizing that unless you live on the app, there is just no way to keep up. What I don’t see on this app is a choice to see a local channel. Is there a setting I missed?

 

[Alli]

Anyone using IceCubes app on their phone with Mastodon? I’m realizing that unless you live on the app, there is just no way to keep up. What I don’t see on this app is a choice to see a local channel. Is there a setting I missed?

I thought there was, but I don’t remember. Follow them and ask, they’re really responsive.

 

[Nycturne]

Anyone using IceCubes app on their phone with Mastodon? I’m realizing that unless you live on the app, there is just no way to keep up. What I don’t see on this app is a choice to see a local channel. Is there a setting I missed?

Also, one very poorly advertised feature is turning off boosts/retweets from specific accounts.

I don’t necessarily want to use Alli as an example, but she is rather prolific with her boosts on Mastodon. It does tend to drown out some of my other follows that aren’t using Mastodon daily. So I do have her boosts turned off in my feed, which means I still get anything she specifically quotes or mentions, but I don’t get everything.

Same with Cory Doctrow on Twitter.

 

[Eric]

Also, one very poorly advertised feature is turning off boosts/retweets from specific accounts.

I don’t necessarily want to use Alli as an example, but she is rather prolific with her boosts on Mastodon. It does tend to drown out some of my other follows that aren’t using Mastodon daily. So I do have her boosts turned off in my feed, which means I still get anything she specifically quotes or mentions, but I don’t get everything.

Same with Cory Doctrow on Twitter.

I get your point and while not directly related I'll just say that nobody can breathe life into one of these platforms like Alli, no matter where I start a new site/feed, etc she is there 100% getting it off the ground. Arguably, this site would not exist without her. Her posting may be prolific but it also gets results.

 

[Huntn]

My impression is that Mastodon in at least my corner of it seems to run more liberal and woke. So far I’ve only had one ass hole respond to me. He did not seem to understand my post and was upset that I wished bad karma on the GOP.

Also, one very poorly advertised feature is turning off boosts/retweets from specific accounts.

I don’t necessarily want to use Alli as an example, but she is rather prolific with her boosts on Mastodon. It does tend to drown out some of my other follows that aren’t using Mastodon daily. So I do have her boosts turned off in my feed, which means I still get anything she specifically quotes or mentions, but I don’t get everything.

Same with Cory Doctrow on Twitter.

There is no way to keep up with the flow of conversations without staying clued to it continuously, which I am not doing.

 

[Alli]

My impression is that Mastodon in at least my corner of it seems to run more liberal and woke. So far I’ve only had one ass hole respond to me. He did not seem to understand my post and was upset that I wished bad karma on the GOP.

I’ve had two. One, unfortunately, turned out to be two servers filled with hateful people. You won’t have to worry about them, cause I blocked both servers. Then there was the fellow yesterday who took exception to my meme showing clergy vs drag queens. I just blocked him individually.

Most of the folks on Masto are pretty progressive.

 

[Huntn]

I’ve had two. One, unfortunately, turned out to be two servers filled with hateful people. You won’t have to worry about them, cause I blocked both servers. Then there was the fellow yesterday who took exception to my meme showing clergy vs drag queens. I just blocked him individually.

Most of the folks on Masto are pretty progressive.

Not an accusation, please don’t go crazy blocking servers because it’s better to know then live in a bubble. But I can also see fatigue of being over whelmed with assholes.

 

[Nycturne]

I get your point and while not directly related I'll just say that nobody can breathe life into one of these platforms like Alli, no matter where I start a new site/feed, etc she is there 100% getting it off the ground. Arguably, this site would not exist without her. Her posting may be prolific but it also gets results.

Oh, I’m not trying to make this out to be bad. Just pointing out there are tools for wrangling a feed that doesn’t require muting someone you want to follow if things like boosts/retweets make up a large chunk of your feed.

I tend to follow quiet folks, and don’t want to miss when they do post.

 

[Alli]

Oh, I’m not trying to make this out to be bad. Just pointing out there are tools for wrangling a feed that doesn’t require muting someone you want to follow if things like boosts/retweets make up a large chunk of your feed.

I tend to follow quiet folks, and don’t want to miss when they do post.

You know you can also disable boosts per user?

 

[Nycturne]

You know you can also disable boosts per user?

That was the original point I was bringing up.

 

[Huntn]

Mastodon- Ali, please don't get mad, but I am considering, maybe just thinking about switching instances based on the perception that if I joined the main mastodon instance I would be exposed to more variety of content. At the same time I wonder if more content is what I really need? For example if I check in on the Ice Cubes app, it might say I've missed 1000 posts. There is no way in hell, I'm going to read all those posts, so I just miss them. Maybe what I don't need is more posts? Any thoughts on this?

 

[Yoused]

Mastodon- Ali, please don't get mad, but I am considering, maybe just thinking about switching instances based on the perception that if I joined the main mastodon instance I would be exposed to more variety of content.

I think mastodon works on a principle similar to IRC or Usenet, where the instances talk to each other. Some appear to be more topic focused, but the way I see it, you have to deliberately obtain content – there is no promotion, like FB or Muskland because Mastodon is not, in and of itself, a business.

 

[Alli]

Mastodon- Ali, please don't get mad, but I am considering, maybe just thinking about switching instances based on the perception that if I joined the main mastodon instance I would be exposed to more variety of content. At the same time I wonder if more content is what I really need? For example if I check in on the Ice Cubes app, it might say I've missed 1000 posts. There is no way in hell, I'm going to read all those posts, so I just miss them. Maybe what I don't need is more posts? Any thoughts on this?

I started on a larger instance. Once you follow enough people, you’re going to miss posts. Every time I open Ivory, there are anywhere from 500-1000+ posts unread. I typically scroll until there are 100 and start there. Sometimes I have to scroll again, or I could be catching up 24/7.

Try creating another account on another instance (without switching), and see how it feels. Then go from there.

 

[Huntn]

I think mastodon works on a principle similar to IRC or Usenet, where the instances talk to each other. Some appear to be more topic focused, but the way I see it, you have to deliberately obtain content – there is no promotion, like FB or Muskland because Mastodon is not, in and of itself, a business.

I started on a larger instance. Once you follow enough people, you’re going to miss posts. Every time I open Ivory, there are anywhere from 500-1000+ posts unread. I typically scroll until there are 100 and start there. Sometimes I have to scroll again, or I could be catching up 24/7.

Try creating another account on another instance (without switching), and see how it feels. Then go from there.

The reality is that there are too many posts already to stay on top of, I’ll turn on IceCubes in the morning and I’ve missed 1500 posts, I’m not going to review all of them, so I just swish to the top of the list, there is just no way to stay on top of it all.

Honestly, while Mastadon is cool, it’s like drinking from a fire hose, it’s scrolling text structure sucks for any kind of coherent manageable flow, unless you plan on living on it, which I don’t, I’ll likely just stay where I’m at.

I’ve also realize how easy it is to be followed, one witty comment and someone will follow you, Part of this is because of the scrolling text, and people need to Mae a de idion to latch on, or they will lose track of you.

One thing I love about it is its leftist leanings. I have yet to see a MAGA Asshole spewing their nonsense. All the shitheads must be over on Truth Social, HaHa, that name would crack me up if it was not so purposefully misleading or is it self delusional? We make up whatever BS truth we want so You Loser, you’ll drink from our cup…

 

[Huntn]

@Alli probably a repeat message, but, Just to let you know I’m not ignoring your posts on Mastodon, just not seeing them on my phone. I’m using Ice Cubes on my phone which has nice features but no local channel, just a timeline Category.. It’s when I use the browser version of Mastodon I see the local Channel. Could there be some operator error there, a way to pull up a local/home channel on Mastodon using Ice Cubes?

 

[Alli]

@Alli probably a repeat message, but, Just to let you know I’m not ignoring your posts on Mastodon, just not seeing them on my phone. I’m using Ice Cubes on my phone which has nice features but no local channel, just a timeline Category.. It’s when I use the browser version of Mastodon I see the local Channel. Could there be some operator error there, a way to pull up a local/home channel on Mastodon using Ice Cubes?

I didn’t think you were ignoring my posts. You always like and boost them. I believe Ice Cubes offers a Home option. Maybe at the top in a dropdown? Been a minute since I’ve used it so I don’t remember where/how you access it, but I know it’s there along with federated timeline.

 

[Huntn]

I didn’t think you were ignoring my posts. You always like and boost them. I believe Ice Cubes offers a Home option. Maybe at the top in a dropdown? Been a minute since I’ve used it so I don’t remember where/how you access it, but I know it’s there along with federated timeline.

Duh… at the top it says Federated, and if I touch that it drops down with other choices like “home”, but it does not look like a typical drop down. Thanks!