Gregory's ServerDoing a bit of an experiment. Please boost if you agree with the following statements.
Trans rights are human rights.
Black lives matter.
No human is illegal.
Love is love.
Their body is their choice.
Science is real.
Kindness is everything.
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232 comments
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@tabiwritesstuff I couldn't agree more, which is why I am doing this little experiment. I've seen a lot of comments on Twitter about people being marginalized and harassed in some Mastodon instances. @tabiwritesstuff @dragoncrown That’s the worry with instances. I think *touch wood* dice.camp is generally frequented by decent people and admin are also decent so they’d call anyone who crossed lines. Unfortunately there seem to be instances that are not considered as safe, which just sucks. @dcbradshaw @tabiwritesstuff My thoughts exactly and part of what spurred this little experiment.  @tabiwritesstuff Not here they're not, but we also don't suffer morons trying to throw doubt on that by "just asking the question" like Bill O'Reilly does. @juneussell @dragoncrown I believe it’s too test moderation on Mastodon. With the current climate of the bird app it’s just a shouting match and echo chamber of hate and bigotry. This is to see if this is truly a safer, people moderated space. @dragoncrown I do agree with these things, but I have an allergic reaction to any post that says “boost if you agree.” @Rabbit @dragoncrown same here, always reminds me of people on Tumblr trying to manipulate people into making number go up @raphaelmorgan @Rabbit Good thing there's no numbers here to chase after an algorithm. This is merely for my own edification. 🙃 @Rabbit Fair, but this post is actually to satiate a curiosity of mine, not engagement. One of my favorite things about this platform is that the engagement chase is not much if a thing here. 😁 @raphaelmorgan @Rabbit Very true, but a poll requires less commitment. A boost means a public endorsement of the message. That's what I'm really interested in seeing. @dragoncrown @Rabbit I guess that's fair, but I publicly endorse these all the time with most of what I say and do, so I'm still not going to boost and subject my followers to "if you don't boost the Democrat yard sign that means you don't believe in basic human rights" (not trying to be rude, I just literally have seen p much this exact post as a Democrat yard sign) just so they can go through the same moral conundrum @raphaelmorgan @Rabbit That's fair. Far be it from me to impose like that. This isn't the bird app. 😉 @raphaelmorgan @dragoncrown @Rabbit would a poll allow you to see the breakdown of numbers by instances? @Mellifluence @raphaelmorgan @Rabbit Funny you say that because I've been wondering how I'm going to parse it all in a spreadsheet. 🤣 @Mellifluence @dragoncrown it wouldn't, but would this? like I guess he could go through the boost notifications one by one and count them but that sounds pretty exhausting @raphaelmorgan @Mellifluence There is also another corollary I am paying attention to. One of the things I really like about Mastodon is that its very design and lack of algorithm creates a friction that inherently prevents virality. It would take a vast, concerted user effort for a message to spread. Especially from a small account. I am interested to see how far it goes. @dragoncrown sure thing, though particularly within a server, it can feel a bit like a purity test. What does it mean if someone doesn’t boost? Does who they are matter? What does it actually mean if they do? @Rabbit It only means they didn't boost it. Speculating on the reasons behind why is not productive and I don't believe it to be indicative of the person. @Rabbit @dragoncrown I also struggle with this and probably won't boost again. It was a constant on the birdsite and didn't feel great. @dragoncrown Hard agree except for the last one. It's good to be kind to other people. But too often being kind is confused with being good. I'm sure there are plenty of people who identify as incredibly conservative but are nice to people around them and outwardly very pleasant. Doesn't change the fact that they're bad people. @Outlander Fair. To me, "kind", "good", and "nice" are different propositions, but we're now entering semantics territory. 🤣 @dragoncrown almost fully agree, except I think "their body is their choice", bc language around pregnancy, abortion and bodies with uteruses (uteri?) needs to be inclusive, as it's way too binary atm. The rest I agree with as is!  @dragoncrown Hi we're not on birdsite here, all of this is just normal!  @dragoncrown My wife, who had a 35 year career in the U.S. government, much of it as a paralegal, is found of saumying that humans cannot be illegal. They can be undocumented. A big difference. BTW, she now volunteers teaching ESL and citizenship (passing the US citizenship test) to adults. We have a lot of friends from South and Central America as a result.  @dragoncrown "their body is their choice" - I hope you extend this to informed and free consent to being vaccinated? @ariane Sure. I don't agree with the arguments against vaccination, but it's still your choice. @dragoncrown I fully agree with your statements, and I make the same statements on my feed. But *asking people to boost* is very bad form. It is basically chain-letter spam. It might be better form to ask people to make similar original statements in their own words with a tag that you specify. @mairhart That's a very fair criticism, but I assure you "chain-letter spamming" is not the purpose of this little social experiment at all. @bradpilcher @mairhart Well, I am very curious about several things. Community acceptance and support of minorities. Moderation response. Harassment risk. Just plain curiosity. I decided to do this little test after reading several threads on the bird app claiming this platform is hostile to minorities. @dragoncrown @mairhart Ok. I get it. I can think of better ways to explore that question than this, but I’m just a newbie here. Clearly you seem to have run afoul of the culture that dislikes algorithms and anything that feels meant to game said algorithm. Beyond that, what do you feel you’ve learned from the experiment so far? @bradpilcher @mairhart Oh, I dislike the traditional algorithm-based social media culture very much too! I have learned a few interesting things thus far. Hate and trolls have actually taken longer to arrive than expected. The claims I saw might be either exaggerations or the product of picking the wrong instance. Many users here, understandably, reel at Twitter-like engagement. 👍 Mastodon users seem to lean on the progressive side. @dragoncrown @mairhart I tend to agree that notions of Mastodon as a lily white gated community seem overblown. Perhaps I’ve been lucky in picking a good instance and making sound choices on who to follow, but I feel like I’ve seen much more trans and non-binary visibility here than on any other social network. If there is anything off putting, I’d say it’s the slightly higher UI and cultural learning curve here than elsewhere… (1/2) @dragoncrown @mairhart …and a knee-jerk defensiveness and aggressive willingness to shame in order to enforce those cultural norms. Of course cultural norms tend to evolve, and the influx of so many new users is like adding a few thousand tanks of nitro to your engine mix in that regard. I can only imagine the anxiety and fear that must provoke amongst older Mastodonians. (2/2) @bradpilcher @mairhart Quite true, and speaking of instances. Here is a finding I'm bracing myself for once this post spreads enough. If I'm right, picking the right instance based on it's community rules does a LOT of heavy lifting keeping minorities safe. Picking the wrong instance could lead to an immediate bad experience. @dragoncrown while a agree, these tactics are crap. It’s a style of post used to build algorithm preference by appealing to someone’s beliefs and implying that not sharing means there is no belief. I know you feel that, since there is no algorithm here, it’s different, but it’s the same idea with no reward. Just have a conversation and make educated posts about those subjects — those boosts will be more effective in the long run because you’ll have proper discussions. @RebeccaBredin I hear your concern, but I can assure you this is not a "tactic" because I'm not looking to gain anything from it. At least not anything tangible like followers and likes. This is more of a social experiment I did in the spur of the moment after seeing certain posts. @dragoncrown exactly. You’re using a style of post that is grossly ineffective without an algorithm, thinking it’s a social experiment. When these types of posts show up on Facebook or Twitter, they’re just going for the engagement. Here, they just look… pandering. Just engage. @dragoncrown I'm okay with this but I hate the "boost if you agree" part. That may be okay on Twitter, it's not common here. @hypermug1 I know it's not, and in all honesty, that's a big part of why I like Mastodon. This is more of a social experiment type deal. Just a quick note for those of you who started following me or are thinking of doing so based on this post. I talk about nerdy crap a LOT, with a focus on tabletop roleplaying games and Dungeons & Dragons in particular. I also use this platform to self-promote my D&D work. If that's your thing, welcome aboard! If not, I won't be hurt if you unfollow. 😉 @dragoncrown unfortunately, the third to last one has been co-opted by the covid deniers as an excuse to freely cough on everyone on the train while having their chin covered by a mask. @dragoncrown since when is "science is real" controversial? What did I miss? :blobfoxgooglyconfused: @dragoncrown I mean.. science by definition is "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment." It's the realest thing there is, right? How could it not be real as in "actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact; not imagined or supposed." Is this a US language thing? Like "liberals" being the ones accused of taking away freedom? @dragoncrown ah ok. As far as I have observed, in public debate in the US words are more often used to evoke emotions related to specific groups of people, rather than by their definition. So "science is real" becomes "the scientific community is trustworthy". Now I get it :D I'd replace "Her body is her choice", which is gender-essentialist and also vague at the same time, with something like, "carrying a child to birth is a choice". "Science is real" is almost meaningless. Does anyone believe that science doesn't exist? It's a process for discovering the truth. It is not guaranteed to discover the whole truth immediately, and sometimes scientific results are misleading and are often biased and misinterpreted. It's too much like Twitter engagement tweets. Better might have been asking if anyone disagrees @dragoncrown I really feel like we should avoid the low-effort dopamine-chasing posts that are so emblematic of other social media sites. This type of post doesn't add value to the world, it just rallies the troops stand proud in a cut culture war. The thing is, you don't win culture wars by declaring what side you're on, you win by tricking your enemy into being your friend.  @dragoncrown I agree but I really dislike "boost if you X" posts, so you'll have to make do with a reply. Sorry. @dragoncrown @dragoncrown Expressing my unreserved agreement with all of the above, but I'm not boosting a chain post @dragoncrown I find the conversation that you’ve started quite interesting. It’s funny how people are chiming in with such technical nuances of how an experiment should be done, but they’re here none the less being a part of the “experiment”. @dragoncrown I don't understand the "no human is illegal" bit. If it's referring to illegal immigrants, that's their legal status, which has no bearing on their humanity. Attempts to dehumanize them are truly vile and calculated. BLM as a statement is a no brainer; however as a movement, ugh. Don't get me started lol. It's disheartening and frustrating to see people twist pure things to their benefit while that comes at a real cost for everyone else. Everything else checks out! My 2c. @dragoncrown soooo close for me. Love the list but I'd put the last one as Love is everything. but that's just me :) @dragoncrown You lost me at the "their body" one. That phrasing is used by too many different people to mean too many different (and mutually exclusive) things for me to blindly say I agree with it. @dragoncrown - not sure what counts as a boost, but I agree with all of this, 100%. @dragoncrown I won't boost you, but I will say that you didn't lose me until the very end. It is literally not true that "kindness is everything." By far most of the cosmos is not only uncaring about but in every effect cruel to human intentions. Kindness is a lot but some toughness is needed to make it effective. @dragoncrown The experiment is clearly labeled and participation requires consent. Neat!  @dragoncrown Trans rights are /basic/ rights; I'm not human! 🐺 Overall though, 100% agree with the sentiment on these (except maybe "kindness is everything", no idea what that's even about (which is not a request to explain)). (also seconded on not liking 'boost if you agree', /particularly/ when it's value judgments like this (and so implying "if you don't boost you're a bad person"), so I'm not gonna boost.) @dragoncrown #GoldenRule I shouldn't have to say this. @dragoncrown I am a Mom fighting cancer and crushed by debt - please help by donating to my GoFundMe and/or sharing the link with others. @dragoncrown @melissavr What exactly does “love is love” mean? I feel like I’m missing some cultural context or reference. EVERYTHING HERE, EXCEPT @dragoncrown when you say, ‘Love is Love’ does that apply to incest and pedophila or just gay and straight people? When you say, ‘her body, her choice’ are you advocating for the protection of abortion up until birth? It’s hard to agree with statements that paint over so much subtlety. @dragoncrown This is not an "experiment", this is using the suffering of minority groups as a thinly-veiled advertisement for your product. Do better. @dragoncrown see i believe in every one of these but i also believe in ghosts so \_(o_O)_/ @dragoncrown I feel like a lot of folks who would repost this don't actually believe it as much as they think they do. The problem isn't always the sentiment, it's the willingness to actually live the principles in a post like this. The space between these things is where cultures of toxic politeness come home to roost. I agree, but I am not boosting it, because boosting should not be about showing acclaim. You should make it a poll (yes/no) and leave it to people if they want to share it with their followers. @dragoncrown those are good statements most of the rational people agree with. Issue is in how those statements became marketing tools rather than being the things they are. Including people in movies/games etc. while also making them bland and promoting them only cause they are minority, not a good written characters. That triggers people a lot. They know, that they will get mediocre things just for the sake of affair. I wrote the article about that, but it’s in my native language. @dragoncrown I really hope this isn't a bad faith attempt at farming engagement. This isn't the birdsite. @dragoncrown I know it's quite controversial, but along with BLM I would always say, all libes matter. The world is too diverse (not only black&white). @dragoncrown I’m sorry, I won’t boost this. Not necessarily because I disagree with the statements, but I very much dislike this sort of thought-policey type pressure. It feels too invasive and confrontational - wrong for Mastodon. What do you want to achieve? @dragoncrown: Agree with all of these but have a question about the fifth one: do you believe in complete bodily autonomy? Do you believe “their body their is choice” extends to people refusing mandated COVID vaccination? @dragoncrown I also like the phrase from the Harry Bosch books: @dragoncrown There’s no algorithm to help you spread your business on this platform. #srynotsry @dragoncrown still astounds me that people just can’t be nice to each other…or let others just be if you don’t agree with their choices @dragoncrown I agree with of those, but the "repost/retweet/boost if you support ..." Posts always feel like performative activism to me, so I'm going to give that a pass. I'm interested in hearing what your experiment is though. What are the parameters? I'll get jumped on for saying it but unless it's added that animals have rights, as does the planet, I couldn't agree. @dragoncrown I don't boost to agree. That's a social construct on the internet I never got used to. I boost to say, "Hey, I think this is interesting/useful. Maybe you will to." It's a little bit different. @dragoncrown I’m not sure kindness is everything, but being kind to others is usualy better than the alternative. This toot a) brings a smile on my face and b) greatly resembles a T-shirt of mine. * waves *  @dragoncrown |
@dragoncrown It breaks my heart that any of these are considered "controversial".