@JenWojcik it’s also classist shit, are they also complaining about someone promoting their book, tv segment, YouTube, or new app? Usually, nope.

@JenWojcik A lot of us musicians used Twitter and Instagram to promote our gigs. That helped us tremendously. And helped us make income to keep a roof over our heads etc.

There's nothing wrong with promoting our businesses and/or side hustle here on Mastodon.

@JenWojcik
I see nothing wrong with artisans and craftspeople using Mastodon to sell their creations.

@JenWojcik If someone doesn't want to see my content and can't be bothered to block me or ignore me, I'm happy to do the work for them and block them.

Oh, and yay for creative folks using social media for promoting their work, for me it's both an inspiration and an opportunity to participate in that part of the economy.

@JenWojcik I’m not opposed to commercial accounts on Mastodon. No algorithm means they’d need to offer interesting or valuable content.

@JenWojcik

I don't think I've seen anyone selling stuff on Mastodon... what sort of stuff, Jen?

anything cool?

@JenWojcik *fistbump* seriously. Musk destroyed livelihoods. People should help OUT.

@JenWojcik

Well said.

@JenWojcik

Yeah, I get creators trying to find an outlet. If I am not interested I just move on. If they are crypto I block. 😊

@JenWojcik Yeah, I remember the no side-hustle promotions directive on Line 17 of Part C of Section 10 of Schedule 4 of the massive long legally binding Mastodon EULA T&Cs POs or whatever THAT DOESN’T EXIST

@JenWojcik This. People have to eat. It's sort of the only way for some because they have trouble getting jobs on such short notice and they could be homeless. It's not that hard to be a nice person. Humen decency is the bare minimum. Come on people.

@JenWojcik
It's so simple. If you don't like what they're selling don't Don't buy it.

@JenWojcik It literally was how I got the majority of my photography work. The industry hasn't really come over to mastodon yet but yeah I do what I can to promote here as well.

@JenWojcik If I think someone is overdoing it, I can block. Nothing like mass, corporate advertising.

@JenWojcik Yeah, fuck that guy. I’ve happily purchased art and artisan crafts based entirely on fortuitous encounters with artists’ toots.

@JenWojcik Well said!

@JenWojcik Honestly I can't imagine a *better* platform of this sort of nature for stuff like self-promotion. Kind of by definition they aren't in any way hurting anything else (like they aren't even competing with ad sales or anything like that since, you know, there aren't any.) I can't really understand why anyone would be against it. If they don't like it they can just mute or block anyway...

@JenWojcik People should be able to promote their own work on here. It’s completely different than running ads and fosters community support which is exactly in line with what the Fediverse is trying to achieve imo. That person has other social media options if he doesn’t like it.

@JenWojcik
Good block. If one does not want to see any type of post, that whiner can stop following. And I hope that person does not follow me.

@JenWojcik @Nordstahl Well said. It’s pretty basic.

@JenWojcik “went tits up”. Oh my god best phrase ever…hmmm I wonder how else I can use that going forwards.. we can apply this to a lot of things in the world right now

@JenWojcik Some people aren't happy until they've made everyone else miserable.

@JenWojcik "So I blocked his stupid ass instead."

Hell Yeah!

Not only should you NEVER attack people for promoting their work, you should help them spread the word.

@JenWojcik :100a:

for any douche not getting the message
https://youtu.be/ahlm6gIsBzo

@JenWojcik Thank you for this. Sometimes I don't want to post too much sales because I don't want to feel like I'm spamming, but since I opened my account here, I got new sales thanks to my promotion. That was Not happening in other social media. I live in a country with an economic crisis, with great difficulty to find stable work, so each sale in my stores makes a big BIG difference, helps me to feed my family and pay my bills and debts. I am very grateful to be able to promote myself here 🙏❤

@JenWojcik@mastodon.social THIS. And also, like, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with folks wanting to sell goods/services or whatever, anywhere! People have bills to pay.

As an artist, this whole attitude makes me so mad. People called me every name under the sun for offering commissions back in the late 90s! Everything from “greedy” to “sellout”. For daring to sell my work! It’s unbelievable that this kind of behavior is still so common. Absolutely irredeemable.

@JenWojcik Right on!

@JenWojcik A person promoting their own work isn't an ad. It's just a member of the community. I don't know I think there's a real difference between paying to be put into someone's timeline and actively posting yourself and otherwise being a community member.

@JenWojcik a lot of people use Twitter for promotion. If all those people came here it would definitely be a huge loss for twitter and a win for mastodon... The best part of that is if someone wanted to they could make a mastodon instance for selling and promoting and it would still be great for mastodon

Go nuts! Sell your products and build an audience here. Fuck the dead bird app

@JenWojcik I'm facing the same issue from promoting my blog on Mastodon. I probably won't use this app very much. I'll probably just stay on Threads.

@JenWojcik I would love it if all you creatives would start a system of hashtags for #marketsquare and then the tag for type of thing you are creating. Something ,logical for my poor old brain.
Maybe #fedimarket.

@JenWojcik I have 0 issues with individuals selling stuff on Mastodon. I'll even permit businesses within reason! I've never seen a public space without someone peddling somthing, why should here be any different.

@JenWojcik Preach!!!!!

@JenWojcik The same applies to people shaming others for not having totally abandoned Twitter yet. For a lot of artists and creators, even if it's a sinking ship, it is still where their customers are *now*, and they need to pay the rent and eat *now*, and that's more important than a matter of principle.

@JenWojcik 👍👍I find most complaints about this platform to be tedious: it's either "mastodon isn't X or Y or Z enough," or "there's too much XYZ" instead of actively working at learning about this platform and its potential, or doing much to contribute. Plus when it comes to artists, consistently bitching about the lifeblood of basic promo, when 99% of their own online lives involve interaction with or use of creators' non-remunerated and stolen content.

@JenWojcik 👌🏿 yea people can be selfish

@JenWojcik What do you think @stux?

@JenWojcik Preach.

@JenWojcik And for f*cks sake on twitter these assholes were consuming a fire hose of commercial advertising every minute of every day. God damn it wake up!

Here the people selling wares are ACTUAL PEOPLE. Makers.

#mastodon

@JenWojcik wow ik dacht weg te gaan van X met al het negatieve en gescheld. Niet veel beter hier zo te zien 😱

@JenWojcik you never know what cool things you might discover as well.

@JenWojcik A few times I run into accounts that don't talk much or interact, and I have to take the hard step of ...not following that particular person and then completely forgetting about it.

It's not like there are paid promotions on here, so...

Look capitalism does so much bad shit, but people trying to get by and occasionally point to ways they are trying to be self sufficient, that other people probably appreciate, is not even on the radar. If it bugs you, quietly move past.

@JenWojcik People hate corporate, processed, fake ads. We only allow organic, farm-grown, pesticide-free ads injected into our bloodstream

@JenWojcik Amen!

@JenWojcik Agreed, but try to be real please, and don't flood the timeline completely.

@JenWojcik I, too, have books and articles and drawings that I'm promoting on Mastodon. I'll even ask folks to consider joining my Patreon if that's a possibility.

Honestly, these aren't corporations stealing your data and selling them to vendors. It's just stuff that we, the little people, make.

@JenWojcik As someone who is usually anti-ad, I agree with your post.

Besides, when it's a small business or an artist promoting their work, I feel it is more than acceptable to promote here on mastodon.

@JenWojcik I totally support you. I got banned for life (after 12+ years on Twitter) for agreeing with some sarcastic remark. Yeah Elon Musk’s Thought Police take their jobs too seriously. Musk is a one man horror show anyway.

@JenWojcik "Don't be a dick"

Words to live by.

@JenWojcik Thank you for this Jen!! 💜

@JenWojcik
Or just keep scrolling.

@JenWojcik most small sellers I’m likely to interact with, have IG as their primary promotion place, which means I need to go there 🙁. Or Etsy, which is also 🙁.
I’d personally like more of them to be able to break free and come here. As long as they are clear they are the business owner, and preferably have their own website.
Big companies not so much; but given view metrics can’t be tracked for posts, because of federation, they probably won’t anyway.

@JenWojcik Exactly. If you see an account posting stuff you don't like just mute and move on. No need to be a dick about it.

@JenWojcik Selling your own work, totally fine. The numerous drop-shipping, "Best (serivce) in (your area)", and SEO spammers can go rot, tho.

@JenWojcik@mastodon.social And the same people wonder why others don't even try the Fediverse.. I swear this space would gatekeep the Fediverse rather than make the newbies feel at home without the toxic positivity bullshit and had to remind people that Twitter is worse like it somehow justify their behaviour of being a dick on here and getting angry and hostile.

@JenWojcik amen.

If you don't like what someone posts, just unfollow - absolutely no need to be a dick.

"Just don't be a dick" should be in Mastodon's official rules.

@JenWojcik I suppose it depends on how and where you do it. It's intrusive when you're spamming unrelated posts, but if you make your own posts or curate a space dedicated to your gig, there's nothing wrong with that.

@JenWojcik As an illustrator, I want to promote my work on Mastodon, for anyone who might want to buy a print. After IG went all algorithmic, all sales dried up. Mastodon is where some artists come to find a new audience, especially because of its chronological feed.

@JenWojcik I understand what you write and their need for promotion (we all need livelihoods), but I'd also like to ask what someone trying to avoid marketing/adv stuff should do?
I'm personally so fed up by the constant promotions of every kind, on every media, that when I stumble an any of them it just stirs up bad feelings no matter what. Asap something new comes out it's quickly skewed to be (ab)used for advertising (I call it spam).
What are those trying to avoid all that supposed to do?

@JenWojcik I'll never understand this mindset from folks

I LOVE coming on here and finding cool stuff made by regular folks, its one of the best parts of any social media site. There's a marked difference between corporate churn and people sharing their own creations.

@JenWojcik I'm fully in support of artists and people promoting their stuff. Seems more grassroots here and less corporate. Artists, musicians whatever. If someone doesn't want to see it, we've even got a mute/block button that a billionaire can't take away. I'll even boost them.

@JenWojcik I have bought some great handmade jewelry from people posting their sales. People seem to forget that commerce is not the same as capitalism.

Then some Einstein pops on to comment "well, how do I go about not seeing any ads at all?"

I told him to delete his account. He got mad. I blocked him.

Ask a stupid question...and yes, there are plenty of those.

@JenWojcik yep, I was getting between two and four hundred of business a week in my Etsy store until twitter fell. This week I got £4.62.

@JenWojcik Still trying to work out why anyone would be offended by self-promotion. I like to see what people make, and if I really like it I'll buy it from the maker. In which case it helps to know it's for sale, and where it can be purchased.

@JenWojcik

Also, there's a huge difference between people talking about the craft they do for money, and McDonalds dropping ads all over Mastodon. Yeah, both are advertising, but they're of very different scopes and impacts.

Nobody would be opposed to fire itself; it's a matter of how fire is used, what impact it has on things. Using fire to cook is fine. Using fire to burn down an orphanage is not.

@JenWojcik compared to Twitter and Facebook, Mastodon is quiet since there are no algorithms promoting things into your stream

@JenWojcik

Depends.

I don't have a problem with people who interact with others on a range of interests and occasionally sell their own stuff.

But when the account is primarily for marketing purposes, then blocking is the right thing to do. You don't have to put up with the advertising crap, and they can carry on doing it somewhere else. Everybody's happy.

When I was on Xitter, I had a block list with literally thousands of ad accounts. Mastodon is much better. I want to keep it that way.

@JenWojcik If someone has 100% of their livelihood tied up in one area, that is highly risky. Diversification is not only for investment portfolios, but any/all things we value.

If we trust only one platform with our "entire livelihood," we are giving control to someone else, and taking the risk.

Unfortunately, free markets work like that, and there is a lesson in feeling that pain. There are always lessons though. Have you heard of nostr?

@JenWojcik

Also, if your first instinct is to reply guy this post, criticizing struggling people who were not "diversified" enough with their income streams, you're a capitalist cunt and summarily blocked.

Christ.

@JenWojcik

I'd actually prefer to see regular people promoting their business or services on Mastodon rather than elsewhere. Heck a "Mastodon Marketplace" that would bring buyers & sellers together but be underpinned by community style controls might have the potential of being better than Twitter, FB, etc.. Under that scenario it might weed out scams & allow buyers to connect with recommended businesses not just those that pay for promotion.

Also "Don't be a dick" is good life advice.

@JenWojcik Covid destroyed my life and then this ASSHOLE MORON Elon Musk comes along and wipes three years of building friendships, off the map. 🖕🏻Musk and 🖕🏻his new toy.

@JenWojcik Strongly agreed!

@JenWojcik Good Gods. What is wrong with some people? If you're doing something, and it's your feed, promote the stuffing out of it!

@JenWojcik I think everyone has the right to communicate what they want including to promote their stuff. But un-like TwitX you can actually own the server. I mean you can literally put up an ad to sell your car on a server, but if you really wanna go crazy, you can build your self a local or even global car sales mastodon server and its totally fine. If I don't want to hear about their number of pistons, I just block the account and move on with my life. right? its all good! so good for him.

@JenWojcik we all gotta eat, fuck the haters