I hate virality.
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I hate virality.
I've been online since 1998, and the first decade or so was great, so peaceful. Of course, even back then, occasionally some douchebags would comment on my posts, wondering why I liked electronic music when the guitar is the most beautiful instrument in the world. This was back when I was a little kid. But there was little to no toxicity like on today's internet.
I've gained followers and influence while posting a lot during the social media era. After 2015 or so, posts started getting visibility because of the algorithms that continued to "improve". And that changed everything. I became more and more anxious because my posts started popping up everywhere, and followers started accumulating. When I left Twitter, I was nearing 10k followers without doing much. My regular posts got constantly shit flies around them, judging and reviewing things I post about.
Meta, Reddit, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok, all commercial platforms, suffer from this algorithmic brain rot. Your regular posts and the things you're proud of might suddenly go viral, and all kinds of assholes come to bring you down to make themselves feel better. Without recommendation algorithms, those lifeless losers would never get the chance. Without algorithms, we would have a fair game, without singling out or targeting specific individuals.
I need to be present in the Fediverse more often and cut the time I spend in other places. But there's no easy solution. I'm learning this the hard way over and over again.
I often wish it was the early 2000s again, no algorithms, no shitflies.
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System shared this topic
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I hate virality.
I've been online since 1998, and the first decade or so was great, so peaceful. Of course, even back then, occasionally some douchebags would comment on my posts, wondering why I liked electronic music when the guitar is the most beautiful instrument in the world. This was back when I was a little kid. But there was little to no toxicity like on today's internet.
I've gained followers and influence while posting a lot during the social media era. After 2015 or so, posts started getting visibility because of the algorithms that continued to "improve". And that changed everything. I became more and more anxious because my posts started popping up everywhere, and followers started accumulating. When I left Twitter, I was nearing 10k followers without doing much. My regular posts got constantly shit flies around them, judging and reviewing things I post about.
Meta, Reddit, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok, all commercial platforms, suffer from this algorithmic brain rot. Your regular posts and the things you're proud of might suddenly go viral, and all kinds of assholes come to bring you down to make themselves feel better. Without recommendation algorithms, those lifeless losers would never get the chance. Without algorithms, we would have a fair game, without singling out or targeting specific individuals.
I need to be present in the Fediverse more often and cut the time I spend in other places. But there's no easy solution. I'm learning this the hard way over and over again.
I often wish it was the early 2000s again, no algorithms, no shitflies.
@rolle You should have been around for the flame wars of the early 80's!
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I hate virality.
I've been online since 1998, and the first decade or so was great, so peaceful. Of course, even back then, occasionally some douchebags would comment on my posts, wondering why I liked electronic music when the guitar is the most beautiful instrument in the world. This was back when I was a little kid. But there was little to no toxicity like on today's internet.
I've gained followers and influence while posting a lot during the social media era. After 2015 or so, posts started getting visibility because of the algorithms that continued to "improve". And that changed everything. I became more and more anxious because my posts started popping up everywhere, and followers started accumulating. When I left Twitter, I was nearing 10k followers without doing much. My regular posts got constantly shit flies around them, judging and reviewing things I post about.
Meta, Reddit, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok, all commercial platforms, suffer from this algorithmic brain rot. Your regular posts and the things you're proud of might suddenly go viral, and all kinds of assholes come to bring you down to make themselves feel better. Without recommendation algorithms, those lifeless losers would never get the chance. Without algorithms, we would have a fair game, without singling out or targeting specific individuals.
I need to be present in the Fediverse more often and cut the time I spend in other places. But there's no easy solution. I'm learning this the hard way over and over again.
I often wish it was the early 2000s again, no algorithms, no shitflies.
@rolle yes. Of course you can just quite those sites and apps. Nothing good comes from them. And these creeps are the ones who are trying to kill personal liberty and privacy, with "age attestation" laws and even maybe a US Federal law mandating ID at the os level. Social media is okay, but I wonder: Do we need it? Do we need computers at all? I think not on both accounts. Just quit using those services.
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@rolle yes. Of course you can just quite those sites and apps. Nothing good comes from them. And these creeps are the ones who are trying to kill personal liberty and privacy, with "age attestation" laws and even maybe a US Federal law mandating ID at the os level. Social media is okay, but I wonder: Do we need it? Do we need computers at all? I think not on both accounts. Just quit using those services.
@csgraves I'm an entrepreneur and my business runs online. I literally help companies on the Internet. It would mean quitting my job. But I can't just quit my job. I need to make a living. Most of what I do happens outside my personal social media accounts, but my personal brand is often the reason people buy from me. So if I want to earn a living and still have a life, quitting isn't an option. I've had to adapt.
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@csgraves I'm an entrepreneur and my business runs online. I literally help companies on the Internet. It would mean quitting my job. But I can't just quit my job. I need to make a living. Most of what I do happens outside my personal social media accounts, but my personal brand is often the reason people buy from me. So if I want to earn a living and still have a life, quitting isn't an option. I've had to adapt.
@rolle sorry about that, then. AI is not here to stay, and no, it is NOT the future. It must be banned. Every single use of it is theft, of water, land, and intellect. It is unethical, and I hope to live to see the day when it dies completely. Life on earth is more important than your chasing money as an entrepeneur. It's all disgusting, and yes, I want it all to fail, forever.
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I hate virality.
I've been online since 1998, and the first decade or so was great, so peaceful. Of course, even back then, occasionally some douchebags would comment on my posts, wondering why I liked electronic music when the guitar is the most beautiful instrument in the world. This was back when I was a little kid. But there was little to no toxicity like on today's internet.
I've gained followers and influence while posting a lot during the social media era. After 2015 or so, posts started getting visibility because of the algorithms that continued to "improve". And that changed everything. I became more and more anxious because my posts started popping up everywhere, and followers started accumulating. When I left Twitter, I was nearing 10k followers without doing much. My regular posts got constantly shit flies around them, judging and reviewing things I post about.
Meta, Reddit, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok, all commercial platforms, suffer from this algorithmic brain rot. Your regular posts and the things you're proud of might suddenly go viral, and all kinds of assholes come to bring you down to make themselves feel better. Without recommendation algorithms, those lifeless losers would never get the chance. Without algorithms, we would have a fair game, without singling out or targeting specific individuals.
I need to be present in the Fediverse more often and cut the time I spend in other places. But there's no easy solution. I'm learning this the hard way over and over again.
I often wish it was the early 2000s again, no algorithms, no shitflies.
@rolle Mastodon isn't entirely free of algorithms. The explore/trending section uses a real ranking algorithm: it assigns scores to posts using a formula based on boosts and favorites.
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic
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@rolle Mastodon isn't entirely free of algorithms. The explore/trending section uses a real ranking algorithm: it assigns scores to posts using a formula based on boosts and favorites.
@df Nothing online is free from algorithms, but please don't nitpick here. I was talking about a recommendation algorithm designed by corporations to maximize engagement and built to escalate, disrupt, and polarize. Mastodon's "top favs and stars during last 24 hours" is not it.
