An End Around

 Ah, but the Bluesky is darkening, I hear. One of my favorite blue skiers, Mark Chadbourn, had a post about Bluesky looking to retool and perhaps become more Reddit-like in an attempt to win the coveted, "World's Most Dominant Social Media Platform" title that everybody just gives to Twitter anyways because it was Twitter and was once new and exciting and everybody still calls it Twitter because "X" is just a stupid name. As many commenters pointed out, Twitter is rife with bots and any comparison is tainted by this, like comparing apples to rancid oranges. It is like when Trump declares himself the greatest president- EVER and you just go with that because a) he said it, and 2) he's the president and thousands of bots and real-life idiots believe this to be true, so there you go. It's a bold statement for a sleepy-eyed fat man and the media is not here to pick winners and losers, just make them.

Whether you look at social media as a modern town square or just a good timewaster; you probably look at social media. It's like masturbation; everybody does it. It can be fun, but it can be frustrating. And if you do it too much, hair grows on your palms. I do it too much- the posting, I should quickly add- not the other thing. Jeez, I wish! I'm not getting any younger. 

Anyway, in the comments a few SM sites were mentioned that I only have a vague knowledge of. "Mastadon"? Really? "Threads"? I kinda recall hearing once that it was going to be the next Twitter, but I wasn't sure it was still in use. I have heard of "Reddit", but I don't care. What I've seen of it seems to be long rambles about nothing. A childhood schoolmate (Ernest) sends me stuff he sees on his Instagram feed, and I think he wants me to follow him on Instagram. No. That would require me joining Instagram. I don't want to do that. I like Ernie but I despise Facebook where I do follow him and, like most people, I want to quit Facebook; "...but family..." Though jampacked with bots, trolls and Ai, it is still the best way to keep up with family. I often say that I wish there was a site like Facebook that wasn't like Facebook. This is because Facebook sucks. It has an edit button though! There is that. But it is a third world site in navigation and content, only it has your distant friends and relatives there as its main hook. Would you bother with it if not? I rest my case. 

I could go on for days about how screwed up Facebook is, but I'm here to praise Bluesky, not bury Facebook. 

Critics say that Bluesky is a "bubble". OK. They say this like it's a bad thing. It's not. One of the awholes that says that is Bill Maher. That corksoaker thinks we need to talk to the other side to better understand them. No, we don't. I already know that maga are idiots and that I can't help them to not be idiots. They like being idiots. Not a one of them is asking to be saved or to understand why not feeding children is a bad thing. So, there is no point in conversing with them. It's not the least bit productive. On BS though, you can talk with people who have good ideas on how to feed children. Even if the answer is: "Reinstall USAID and SNAP benefits!" that is more productive than some idiot in Ohio saying, "Look at all the money we're saving!" Saving for what? The room temperature IQ folks can't follow the USAID savings from not feeding people, directly to the pockets of Trump and cohorts? The savings are not being passed on to taxpayers. Geez- I want to talk to people who can't understand basic greed and inhumanity? These effers didn't lose the plot with Trump; they never had it!

Blueskiers get this. We may not always be on the same page, but at least we're in the same chapter of the same book. I more often than not feel good about what I read on BS with its like minds and kindred souls. Contrast that to the abject hate and vitriol on Twitter that tears at your soul and, yeah, I love the bubble. Rival Blogger Maggie, "H" and I used to be on a now-defunct site called "Topix". In its origin, it was a news aggregate sponsored by Tribune Media Services and was awesome in content using Chicago Tribune and Orlando Sentinel daily feeds of news, sports and entertainment that people would comment on. It did get ugly at times, but there was something for everyone there to make of which as they chose. It was good fun until the Tribune lost interest in it and divested itself. It quickly became a vast hellscape of bots and trolls. (That was fun too for a then- charming bottomspanker like me, but it was mostly awful as it further deteriorated.) It was "X" before Twitter was "X"; just a smaller scummy pond. It was like when Jerry Springer started as a talk show contender to Oprah with probable good intentions until one day someone thought: "Hey- what if everybody started hitting each other??!!" 

I don't know about Bluesky's finances, but how bad can that be with 43 million global users? 🤷 Trump's Truth Social <snicker> hemorrhages money, but I think that's how money laundering is supposed to work. The thing is that capitalism demands more, more and more and they want it yesterday! Mark Chadbourn's linked article came via CNBC so, it was really about the Benjamins rather than what is right or wrong about Bluesky. America is all about the bottom-line. That is pitifully obvious. Your mom may tell you to just be yourself, but society frowns upon that if it's not paying off. That's why your mom's not a CEO or a CNBC host. 

So, I like Bluesky the way it is. I don't even care that much about an edit button. Typos happen. They are a part of life. I like the bubble. Waaaay less assholes. What could be wrong with that?