(no subject)

[olivermoss]

* That X that flashes on screen when Xitter loads makes me want to leave. The X in that font makes it look like a logo for like adult products.

Poll #29631

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18

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How do we pronounce Xitter?

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Zitter
3 (16.7%)

Shitter
9 (50.0%)

I lead a blessed life and didn't hear about the new twitter name
7 (38.9%)

Basically, Elon wasn't the center of attention for 5 seconds and had a full blown meltdown, changed the name of twitter to one trademarked by Microsoft for the social network use and tried to take down the Twitter name off of the side of his HQ with a permit, and was stopped by the police because no permits/safety review.

company employees were greeted with the new "X" logo projected in the cafeteria and renamed employee conference rooms with X-themed names like “eXposure" and “s3Xy.” from here

* I've always limited how much of the day I am on twitter, etc. So, I am not an addict or a doomscroller, but it's how I stay in loops and I like running info-based comms and.... just, how I get/organize info for decades... I just want the less-shitty version of the internet back.

Comments

[muccamukk]

I know we went beyond parody some time ago, but I stared at this for the longest time trying to figure out if you were joking.

WTF!?

[olivermoss]

The ridiculous toddler used to have a company called X back in the day, basically same concept as paypal but paypal won and took over X. He is not over it, so yesterday he announced that he was going to evolve twitter into a new company called X... that is an online payment processor. twitter, the site where retweets... I sorry... rexes? I guess you 'rex' now??? anyway, they break a lot and I cannot

Also, I should have started my post with more context, but my brain is fried

[james]

I also think that instead of saying "I will tweet this" we should say "I will shit this."

[olivermoss]

Sounds legit

[e_k_braveman]

You're not giving enough credit to adult product companies, they tend to use nice fonts and try to look appealing. That X looks so uninviting! Which, you know, appropriate enough, but geez.

[mistressofmuses]

I DESPERATELY want the less shitty version of the internet back. :(

There's only so much you can do on your own (or with a small group of people) to get that back. Like, I love DW and the idea of people making Neocities sites for themselves and their stuff like The Old Web is super cool and I fully support that...

But that only does so much. When you have to use the internet to find actual information out, and every "social media" site has become a nightmare, and even actual news source main pages are just a monstrous sea of ads and popups and "sponsored" links... that isn't something you can curate into non-shitty and still get the info you're looking for.

Ugh. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

[olivermoss]

We build it, they don't come.

The X gives me the ickiest feeling, it's like I can't forget for a second. Having /organizing info has been a thing I do in fandom forever... and I just either don't want to touch the places with the info or literally can't. I hate this.

I am so sick of people thinking that 'the next thing' will come along. There is no replacement for the main features of twitter and nothing is in the works.

[mistressofmuses]

That's exactly it. :/

The X is so offputting. I hate it. And ugh, I'm so sorry that it makes it near impossible for you to do the info aggregating that you've always done.

Same. I'm getting really... tired, I guess, of everyone waiting for "the next thing". I mean, discords are it for a lot of groups, but it's very much a walled garden situation when it comes to finding and being invited into those spaces. The strength of "curated spaces that have their own vibes" is also their weakness, because it can be SO hard to find spaces at all, much less ones that you enjoy. And that very much does NOT replace the once-functionality of twitter. Everyone seems into Bluesky as the replacement, but it not being visible without an account means it ALSO isn't a functional replacement. Lots of people are still up on Mastodon as the wave of the future, but I feel like for all I've tried to understand what it is, I don't understand how to do it, and I haven't seen much consistent enthusiasm for it even from the excited earlier adopters. And again... doesn't replace twitter.

I guess there's just a frustrating feeling that nothing WILL replace the spaces we're losing to enshittification and billionaire ego trips. No one is even building spaces TO enshittify anymore: they're building spaces like fucking Threads, that are built-in enshittified.
And the non-shitty spaces, the ones that are especially built with the hope of long-term user-focused value, not venture capital shit (like DW)... aren't the spaces with critical mass, that attract the bulk of users.

[olivermoss]

I love Discord, even though I will never even know about most of the good servers that I'd love to be in. It's hard to navigate.

Nothing is even trying to replace why twitter was important or be a good platform for news, breaking weather and traffic, etc.

Some people think the faster it falls the faster we get 'the good internet' back and it's like... stop, just stop. People think some fan will make us a good space if twitter actually dies. It drives me nuts because it's just taking for granted that people will do the work because of course they will. It's so insulting, taking for granting the massive amounts of work that went into AO3, DW comms, Discord modding, Tumblr FY blogs, etc. Like maybe stop taking fanwork for granted?

[mistressofmuses]

I *want* to love Discord... but I get overwhelmed by basically all the servers I've joined, and then just ignore it forever, lol. (Or finally find a server for a topic I'm interested in, only to discover that there are already some of the people with the worst takes in the universe who won't shut up, lmao.)

And yeah, nothing else seems to even be pretending to try to be the up-to-the-minute source of info. Nothing else *is* set up for the same, and that doesn't seem to be what any of the so-called "alternatives" are aiming to do either.

I think that's the most frustrating part... there's just this assumption that "well, someone will sort it out and things will be fine." There's ALWAYS a huge devaluing of the work that goes into building and curating spaces, and it gets infuriating. It is a HUGE amount of labor and ongoing effort to make spaces like AO3 or DW or a Discord server, etc. work. (And yet, far too often, people aren't even willing to put forward very basic effort to be good community members, even when other people are doing the actual organizing/modding/site creation.)
Like, this isn't as "serious", but it's the same sort of mentality that leads people to say they HOPE the worst political candidate wins, because the worse the world gets, and the more people are hurt, the more people will "wake up" and we'll have revolution or whatever... while shrugging off all the harm done.

[olivermoss]

I like discord, I just bounce from them pretty fast and just ignore that there are likely amazing servers I will never know about.

Yeah, I'm just so tired of people not wanting to have to learn even one thing to be on a different site, one with all the things they claim to want. Or taking modding for granted.

There are big names that I do not follow, and do not follow me. And yet I get comment notifications from them lecturing me and treating me like I am sus for not 'believing in fandom' because 'fans are tool using animals' and it's like fuck off.

And, let's be real I will be salty until I die about other people stealing my fan labor, literally C&P of my words, in like a million ways. I am just pure salt

[mistressofmuses]

I should probably be more keen to leave servers that I don't vibe with... I just keep lying to myself and pretending that someday I won't feel so overwhelmed, and I'll suddenly want to participate, lol.
The realization that somewhere, there are probably excellent servers that I WOULD vibe with really well, that would be the sort of space I want, without moving so fast that it overwhelms/frustrates me... does haunt me a bit, ha.

That's very much the case - people aren't willing to make bare minimum efforts, like "read the FAQ" or "spend some time learning how a site works" or "having to navigate a menu." And then people *still* take any work that goes into creating a space and making it work and making it pleasant for fucking granted.

You've well earned your pure salt. I love fandom... or at least I love what I know fandom *can* be. Unfortunately, fandom is made up of people, and unfortunately too many people are entitled assholes, who are more interested in getting "ahead" in some way than any kind of community.

[olivermoss]

I think table-slipping on servers really fast was good for me. Also, I have done some slash cons and while the servers for those are sleepy, they at least exist and have discord directories. I also pit links on my comm profiles when I know them (tho I am not in any of those Leverage discords for a reason!)

Outside of like game company servers so I get notifs, I basically have a handful of sleepy servers and, well, that is a lot better than not having them or having annoying ones.

[mistressofmuses]

Yeah, I likely need to really put some effort into curating my discord experience a bit better. I've mostly joined writing ones, and a handful of fandom ones... I think I'd really prefer a smaller, slower server, but alas, most of the writing ones I joined wound up getting really busy. Good for some people, but not for me! Once I feel like it's impossible to even try to keep up, my brain nopes.